#and they were the only sh stories i knew of for years

[ragazziamagix]

do you know what sucks? it is when you are like i wanna see the winx fandom and see the discussions (assuming its about reboot even if its obviously gonna be underwhelming) and all you see is Sky and Riven bashing, it is like... Almost a parrot orchestra of same old same old points that have been disproven but hey I guess hating them is easy? It is okay to dislike any character but what they get from the "fadom" is ridiculous beyond anything.

what i find the most funny is that truly the most things said about Sky is not even remotely true, I have noticed that specially on my winx s1 rewatch how everyone just blow things out of proportion and some stuff are straight out LIES for real

Sky did not cheat the insane girl (remember that one which calls everyone peasants and think only them should fight a dangerous fight while royalty hides, and screams with servants? tried to kill Bloom and sh*t? yeaah such a great person), he was in a forced errangement (I guess we should only feel sorry for certain characters when they face this situation right? Because Sky have to just suck it up I suppose? Heck if he loves someone truly lol), anyway Sky breaks the arrangement on s 1 he do not even dates Bloom for real until the end of season 2 until there it is like "oh yes we like each other but it's too soon to say something I am not sure etc" the big confession leading to relationship was probably saved because of the climax of season 2 being big so it makes sense it's saved for this moment in restrospect it makes more sense.

Sky should not have to desclosure his identity to Bloom where they barely met each other! If this have been dragged upon s 2 I would feel he should but c'mon LMAO Be realistic, his life was in danger they weren't doing it for funs and kicks lol what were people watching

Sky got scared of Bloom possibly being the vessel of the old witches (an actual threat to the entire magic dimension but a 16 year old sky can not have flaws how silly of me) i dont remember how to write english wtv, he did freaked out he didnt knew her very well but he did NOT abandoned her lmaooooo i remember laughin at the absurdity when i rewatched it the absurdity of the blowing things out of proportion. I think specially cute because no one sees that he mades up for it in the end which is the point and how he almost died for Bloom other times but go off I guess?

I will forever feel like sh*t on this fandom most of times reading all those lies and bs about your favs effing sucks tbh specially when you just wanna check around stuff normally idk its like a random jumpscare, I am not even gonna complete this list because this is all so tiresome, Sky and Bloom don't even have a bad story actually I find them very cute and romantic as noticed I do love them as characters and as a couple, it baffles me how Sky that people preach about here is NOT LIKE canon Sky at all, the most you can say and is accurate is communication, jealousy which are very minimal played and only for the sake of drama and NOT EXCLUSIVE to them or Sky.

anyway it makes enjoying fandom not fun, istg enjoying fandom was good once,

[ari-ana-bel-la]

Hii could you do one for Carlos and Rebecca- they fight and don’t talk to each other, so their little 4 year old also starts to be silent and not talk to either of them? They explain to her and resolve their fights and decide to never let it affect their family

Love Always Wins

Yn knew one thing for certain—her parents loved each other. She had never seen a day when Papá didn’t scoop up Mommy for a kiss, murmuring some sweet Spanish words that always made Mommy smile. She had never seen a moment when Mommy wasn’t pressing soft kisses to both her and Papá’s cheeks, laughing when Papá playfully tried to escape, only to give in seconds later.

Love was everywhere in their house. In the way Papá carried her on his shoulders when they went on walks. In the way Mommy brushed her curls at night, telling her stories about when she was little. In the way they danced in the kitchen when they thought no one was looking.

So, when Yn heard them fighting, really fighting, for the first time, she didn’t understand.

She had been playing with her dolls in the living room when she heard the sharp, raised voices from the kitchen. At first, she thought they were just being loud, like when Mommy got excited about a race or when Papá yelled at the TV during football matches. But this was different.

"I don’t like it, Carlos! She’s too young!"

"Mamá and Papá just want to spend time with her, cariño. They love her. Why is that such a problem?"

"It’s not a problem, but why do they want to take her for an entire week without us? We’ve never been apart from her for so long!"

"They’re her grandparents! They have every right to take her on a little vacation!"

"But we’re her parents, Carlos! I don’t feel comfortable with it. Why can’t you understand that?"

Yn hugged her doll tighter, her little fingers gripping the fabric. Her parents never talked to each other like that.

She scooted closer to the hallway, her small legs folded beneath her as she listened.

"I understand that you’re worried, but you’re acting like they’re strangers! They raised me, they love her just as much as we do."

"That’s not the point!"

"Then what is?"

Silence.

Yn’s heart beat faster. She didn’t like this.

After a long moment, Mommy spoke again, her voice quieter but still firm. "I just… I don’t want to be away from her for so long. I don’t think she’ll like it either."

Papá sighed heavily. "Rebecca…"

"I don’t want to talk about this anymore."

Footsteps. Yn scrambled back, clutching her doll to her chest. A second later, Mommy walked past the hallway without noticing her. Papá stayed in the kitchen.

Yn sat there for a while, her little mind trying to understand. Why were they mad? Did she do something wrong?

---

Dinner was quiet.

Too quiet.

Usually, Papá would tell funny stories, making Mommy laugh until she covered her mouth, her eyes crinkling with joy. Usually, Mommy would ask Yn about her day, and Papá would tease her about eating her vegetables. Usually, there would be warmth.

Tonight, there was none.

Mommy and Papá sat across from each other, but they didn’t talk. They didn’t even look at each other. They ate their food in silence, barely glancing at Yn, who poked at her rice with her fork.

She didn’t like this at all.

She looked at Mommy. Then at Papá. Should she say something? Would it help?

But she didn’t know what to say.

So, she stayed quiet.

---

The next morning, they were still mad.

Yn could tell because Papá left for his run without kissing Mommy goodbye. Because Mommy made breakfast without humming her favorite song. Because even when they spoke to her, their voices were soft, like they were trying not to let their own emotions slip out.

Yn didn’t like it when they were mad at each other. It made her tummy feel weird.

So, she decided not to talk, either.

If they weren’t talking to each other, maybe she shouldn’t talk at all. Maybe that would help.

When Papá asked if she wanted more juice, she just shook her head. When Mommy asked if she wanted to go outside and play, she simply nodded. When they tried to start little conversations, she only gave them small gestures in response.

By lunchtime, their frustration with each other had faded. Now, they were only worried.

Papá leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed. "She hasn’t said a word all morning."

Mommy nodded, biting her lip. "She’s never this quiet. She always has something to say."

Carlos sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Do you think she’s sick?"

"I don’t think so. She doesn’t have a fever. But something is wrong."

They both turned to look outside, where Yn was sitting on the terrace, drawing with colorful chalk.

"Let’s talk to her," Rebecca said softly.

Carlos nodded, and together, they stepped outside.

Yn was drawing a picture of their family. She had drawn herself in the middle, holding hands with her parents. But something was different.

There were sad lines over Mommy and Papá’s heads.

Carlos and Rebecca exchanged a glance before kneeling beside her.

"Mi amor," Carlos said gently. "Can we talk?"

Yn hesitated, but then nodded.

Rebecca reached out, brushing a curl from her face. "Why aren’t you talking, baby?"

Yn looked down at her drawing, her little fingers tracing the chalk lines. "Because you weren’t talking," she whispered.

Carlos felt his chest tighten. "Oh, cariño…"

Rebecca’s eyes softened as she gently took Yn’s small hand in hers. "Were you worried about us?"

Yn nodded. "You were fighting."

Carlos and Rebecca looked at each other, regret washing over them.

Carlos pulled Yn onto his lap, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "We’re so sorry, mi amor. Sometimes, Papá and Mommy don’t agree on things, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other."

Rebecca wrapped her arms around them both, resting her cheek against Yn’s hair. "We never wanted to make you feel sad. We should have been more careful."

Yn looked up at them. "You’re not mad anymore?"

Carlos shook his head immediately. "No, princesa. We’re not mad anymore. We love each other very much. And we love you more than anything."

Rebecca kissed Yn’s cheek, then turned to Carlos and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, as if sealing their promise. "We’ll always be a family, no matter what. And we’ll never let an argument make you feel this way again."

Yn smiled for the first time that day, wrapping her little arms around both of them.

"Love always wins," she said, repeating the words she had heard her Papá say so many times before.

Carlos and Rebecca held her close, silently vowing to never let their arguments come between their family again.

And just like that, the warmth was back.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥︎♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Authors Note: Hey loves. I hope you enjoyed reading this story. My requests are always open for you.

-💙🦋

[teaboot]

hiiiiiii so i have concepts of a story that were halted months ago due to my inability to fathom writing From The Perspective Of A Toddler. & now i have learned that you apparently remember the experience VIVIDLY. & i would like to ask,, if you would be so kind,, if you would be amenable to. giving tips. answering questions. etc

for instance the extremely crucial Do You Remember When You Learned How To Spell Your Name. & What Was Thinking Like

. pretty please i had lost hope

Oh, sure! Yeah, no problem

Kay so I learned how to read at around 4 and was p much fluent around 5- I remember cause I LOVED Calvin and Hobbes and Calvin was one year older than me

When I was 3ish I remember my mom starting with the alphabet, and I remembered learning it in chunks- so I usually didn’t forget just a single letter, but the whole chunk. ABCD-EFG-HIJK, like how the song goes, but if I got stuck on D and couldn’t remember E I’d jump to H just grasping for the next thing I could remember. And she made me learn in German too, so I got the idea of certain letters being able to make different noises

*(English alphabet LMNOP was the hardest cause it sounded like a word- ELEMENOPEE- and since all letter names sound like words I thought it was just one letter, like DOUBLE-YOU and WHY.)

**(My favourite German letter was OOPSILON ‘cause my mom made it sound like something you’d say after falling down in a silly way- like “whoopsie-doodles” or smthn)

So by the time it came to reading and writing, I already had most of the sounds memorized- the hardest things to remember where letters that COULD sound the same but weren’t interchangeable- like G and J- and which letters were usually in pairs and when- like -CK and Qu- -and which directions they faced when I wrote them down.

The most common backwards-letters were J, L, N, b, d, S, Z, a, q, and r.

I’m not getting doxxed today but my name had letter/s that I consistently wrote backwards.

In early grades, our teacher wrote our names on big pieces of paper and taped them to the top of our desks so we could see them every day, and let us decorate around them with pencil crayons so they’d be personalized. So remembering the right letters in the right order was pretty easy pretty fast, but some would still be backwards.

After we had the alphabet song down, we all got workbooks with 26 double-sides pages or so where there was one line of a single letter spelled in dashes we could trace, like Aa Aa Aa, then a line of capitals we had to free-write, like AAAA, then a line in lowercase- aaaa. After there was a line of text using that letter we could trace- Anna ate an apple- and then like five lines where we’d repeat it.

We were only supposed to do one or two a day, and I frequently got in trouble for blowing past that.

We had other workbooks just like that for learning cursive, but IMO cursive was easier because we already knew the letters, we just had to learn how they looked then they were fancy and how to connect them fluidly.

The worst part of learning to write was keeping the pencil steady. Holding a pencil to write when you’ve never done it before is kind of uncomfortable till you find a position that works for you, and it takes a while to get a feel for how close your fingers should be to one end. On top of that, it’s super hard to get a tidy line of any shape until your motor skills catch up- and they only catch up if you DO it enough.

My least-favourite things about learning to write was guessing which words ended in a silent E, whether or not a Wr- word was just an R-, and remembering that Q was always followed by a U.

Th- Wh- Ch- -Ce and Sh- sounds had an entire class one day, and a separate poster on the board with trains and people shushing so we’d know which one was which. Like a cheat sheet! Our teacher would sometimes tape construction paper over them before class started or during recess and we wouldn’t notice until after she announced a surprise pop quiz.

I hope some of this was what you were looking for?

Good luck writing! :D

[ashwhowrites]

Ash!!! I’m so happy you’re back! When I noticed I unfollowed and refollowed so you’d be at the top of my list lol. Sorry about that I just need quick access to your addictive stories. Welcome welcome welcome back! ❤️

I’ve requested anon before you left but because you’re back I wanted to do one with my name just to further show my excitement to have you and your stories back! Social anxiety is a thing and I feel weird making requests usually but I’ll shove that aside so you know how much you were missed! And how thankful I am to see you WELL above all. So glad you got some inspo back and are up to writing again, never any pressure though!! Take your time and enjoy what you write!

I was thinking for my request... 👀 I’m wanting it to start angsty and end happy. Really mean Eddie sinking to bully level. a mistaken identity, Eddie believes reader has said/done something nasty to him or the hellfire boys but it wasn’t her.

So he’s awful to her, outright mean. She tries to go meet him at the picnic table to figure out why he’s being so hateful (because she’s always secretly admired and crushed on him) and he really sets into her. (Nothing physical, although crowding her or making her back up is okay.) He says some nasty things he doesn’t actually believe and she runs from him in tears. He’s still pissed so he starts a rumor about her that day. (Something Hawkins would gossip about, make her out to be a freak so she sees what it’s like for Eddie b/c again he’s confusing her for other girl.)

It works, next week at school everyone is shunning her, only a few friends stay by her. He hears Dustin talking about her and his mess up is revealed! Dustin (no one knows Eddie started the rumor) is like how could you forget who she is? She’s the one who talked the theater teacher into letting us use their stereo for atmosphere tapes during hellfire! (Doesn’t have to be that if you have a better idea!) And (some other similarly nice and supportive thing to further twist the knife here, like snuck them prop goblets and costumes or whatever you think)!

Eddie is disgusted that he let himself be like Jason. After school he finds her in the drama room before Hellfire. She and Eddie are the only people there and she looks terrified of him. He breaks and tears up, maybe actually cries?, begging her on his knees in dramatic Eddie fashion for forgiveness as he fumbles his way through a messy, babbling explanation. After listening to him she tells him about all the chaos and strife his rumor caused But! she accepts his apology and agrees to give him a chance to redeem himself.

Omg I’m so sorry this is fifty-leven years long. 😩 hope that’s all okay? So so much love and thanks for even reading this monster ask lol. No pressure, just so happy that you’re back! May you stay inspired and get joy from every piece you write. ❤️❤️

I hope this is what you wanted and you enjoy it! Thank you for requesting ❤️

Mistaken identity

Eddie was popular in a way that people knew exactly who he was and most things about him. Everyone knew he lived in a trailer park, contributing to the nickname of trailer trash he often heard. People knew he was in a band, just figured he sang about the devil. The students knew he was part of the Hellfire club, leading them to believe he was weird. As everything above him mixed together, people declared him a freak.

He was popular to Y/N in a different way. She didn't care that he lived in a trailer park. She wished to see his band play and listen to his songs. She thought hellfire was creative, and she even helped them with some campaigns, just behind-the-scenes work. Above everything, she had a massive crush.

She wasn't sure if it was the sexy long hair, the dark tattoos, the chains, or his dorky smile that won her over. But she was stumbling and tripping in love with the obvious boy. She wished they talked more, but he often gave her the cold shoulder. Which at first, she didn't mind as he gave everyone the same attitude. But she couldn't help but think she deserved to be treated slightly better. She didn't deserve to be treated poorly like all the people who were mean to him. She was nice and sweet to him. And it broke her heart more and more when he refused to acknowledge her.

Everything stung more when she was in love.

~~~

Eddie hated everyone, but there were a few on his list whom he hated with every bone in his body. No matter what they said to him, he wanted to rip them apart with his teeth. Jason was a given, but there was one girl that Eddie hated just as much. Her name was Y/N, and it all started in middle school. He'll never forget when she broke him into tears right before the talent show. The mean names she called him and painted a picture of him that he didn't want to be. She was just another person who looked down on him all because he didn't have a rich daddy.

He was positive she didn't remember it because she acted all friendly and fake with him. He hated that she was attractive; it wasn't enough to make him like her, but just enough that if he was with her too long, he'd give in.

~~~

Y/N's crush continued to grow. And it was getting to a point where it was all she could think about. So, she was going to talk to him.

His deals in the woods weren't as secretive as he thought. Y/N knew where to find him.

She was nervous as the sticks crunched under her feet, signaling her arrival. Eddie's eyes hardened upon seeing her, and she tried not to turn around.

"Not happening, princess," he spat as he stood up.

"Eddie, can you just hear me out?" she asked. She tried not to feel defeated as he packed up his stuff.

"Yeah, right," he laughed, throwing his backpack on his shoulder.

"You never listen to me! I just want to ta-" her voice cut out when he walked to her. His chest puffed out as he looked down at her, breathing heavily. It was clear as day he was pissed off, and she was slightly scared.

"I don't give a shit what you want, got it? I can't stand you. I hate you, and I hate everything about you. I don't want to talk because I couldn't care less about you. Can you get that through your head?" his voice was getting louder as he got closer. He was growling in her face, and she couldn't help but back up.

She scrunched her nose as she felt tears filling her eyes. She really didn't want to cry in front of him. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"I beg you, do me a favor and leave me alone."

"I tried," she whispered. She sniffled as she cried. He rolled his eyes, seeing the tears rolling down her face. She was quick to run away, allowing herself to cry.

~~~

She was terrified to see him the next day. Her head was down as she walked through the building. She knew the day would be awful, but she didn't think the situation would get worse.

A rumour began to spread that she made moves on the freak. She couldn't believe someone had made that up. And it made her wonder who saw them out there.

People who never noticed her before seemed to watch her every move. All of a sudden, everyone was interested in her, and she hated it. She was embarrassed to know that her crush was the topic of the news and she was being made fun of for it.

She made sure to stay clear of Eddie, not looking up from her feet unless she was in class.

Eddie finally felt at peace after his talk with Y/N. He got to say what he thought he wanted and spread a little rumor around the school. He wanted her to be mocked and labeled as a freak, just like she did to him.

~

Eddie was enjoying his day, a smile on his face as he headed towards the lunch room. He sat at his usual table, hand on Dustin's shoulders as he sat down.

"Dude, have you heard about Y/N? I can't believe people are being so mean to her because she tried to make a move on you!"

"Well, she should've thought it through," Eddie shrugged.

"What did you do? Did you let her?" Dustin asked

"Of course not!" Eddie scoffed. "I only mean business during my deals."

"Maybe you should clear it up. I mean she's super nice and has done a lot for us," Dustin explained.

"What has she done for us?" Eddie asked

"She's president of the student council! She allowed the club, she provided a place for us to play. She held donations to help with the custom T-shirts. She's done a lot and I think you owe her that."

Eddie had an unsettling feeling in his stomach. "Wait wait, she did all of that? Why? She hates me!"

"She doesn't hate you!"

"Yeah, she does! She ruined my performance at the talent show and mocked me for being poor. She's just like everyone else." Eddie said as he rolled his eyes.

"I truly don't think she's ever done that. She isn't the type," Dustin said. "Are you thinking of the right person?"

"Of course, I'm thinking of the right per -" Eddie's voice trailed to silence as the gears moved in his head. It wouldn't make sense for her to help him out if she hated him. He tried to think back to that night in middle school, the blurry face of the girl becoming clear. "FUCK!"

Dustin jumped as he yelled. He watched as Eddie stood up and looked around the room. Before he could spot her the bell rang.

~

Eddie couldn't find her anywhere and he knew why. He practically threatened her if he ever saw her again. With defeat, he entered the drama room. He was shocked to see someone already there.

"Hello?" He asked, the body jumped and turned around. He was shocked to see it was her.

She didn't say anything but he noticed the way her hands began to shake as she quickly cleaned off the table.

"Hey listen," but she was quick to cut him off.

"I know, I'm sorry! I thought I'd be done by now. I'm just gonna clean it up and out of your way!" She stumbled, her voice was shaky as she held back tears.

"No, listen. I fucked up really bad with you," he sighed.

She looked at him, a little stunned.

He went to walk towards her but froze as she jumped back. He felt even worse as he realized how scared she was. He wasn't any better than the bullies he dealt with all his life.

"Don't be scared, I want to apologize for everything," he said. She was a little skeptical as she watched him drop to his knees.

He placed his palms together like a prayer as he hung his head in shame. "I'm incredibly sorry for yesterday and for being rude to you all these years. You never once deserved it, and I'm ashamed of my actions," he looked up at her, and she was surprised to see his eyes slightly glisten. "I thought you were someone else, someone who ruined my life in middle school. Embarrassing to say I completely was holding a grudge and it wasn't even you. I started the rumor because I wanted people to think you were a freak like me. You were innocent and I hate that I did that. I also hate that you are scared of me," he cried. "I hate that people are scared of me."

She chewed on her bottom lip as his voice cracked and tears began to fall down his cheeks. "Eddie you caused so much damage. It's hard to not be a little scared of what you are capable of doing. I mean the heat I've got from a silly rumour? Imagine what else you could have done."

"I'm sorry. Please don't be scared of me," he whimpered. Her heart fell to her feet as she walked over and cupped his face, kneeling down to his level.

"I'm not scared," she said confidently. She offered a small smile as she wiped his tears. "I hope you know that I would never want to hurt you. I've got too much of a soft spot for you."

"I truly am so sorry," he whispered. Melting into her hand.

"I believe you, and I guess maybe I can give you another shot. After you tell everyone the truth. " she smiled. "Should we start over?"

"Thank you," he sighed in relief, "And I will! I'll tell everyone the truth and never treat you that way again." He stood up, helping her to her feet. "Starting over right now!"

She laughed as he jumped out the door, letting it fully close before he re-entered.

"Well, hello gorgeous," he smirked, "what's your name?"

"Y/N, and you are?" She smiled as she placed her hands on the table behind her, leaning.

"Eddie's the name, do you come here often?" He flirted as he placed his hand on the table next to hers and leaned down.

She blushed as he was inches away from her face. The closest she has ever been to him. "I don't." She couldn't wipe the smile off her face even if she tried.

He clicked his tongue, turning his head as he smiled down at her. "Maybe you should."

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet @mirrorsstuff @somethingvicked @micheledawn1975 @ago-godance @magnificantmermaid @tlclick73 @hargrovesswifee @cityofidek @silky-luxe @lokiofasgard616 @loving-and-dreaming @eddiemunsonsbitch69 @ashlynnkennedy @strangerthingsstories5255 @harringt8ns @pleasinghellfire @whoscamila @stusdollface93 @gretavankleep37 @bellaisswagger @arlxt @ineedmentalhelp123 @emxxblog

[last-words-ofashootingstar]

Serendipity

❥Yandere Park Seonghwa x fem reader

➯a/n: happy seonghwa day ! drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁 this is the beginning of hwa and his baby's story !! holy shit am i excited to share this, this is the plot that i had in my head the whole time writing the first fics of this au and i knew i wanted to write it but i was just never satisfied until now. this has been in my head for two years, enjoy the ride !

Baby Series (this is the first part chronologically)

✃... "I didn't feel anything. Not a thing. Because he had it coming. He hurt My Baby." ... ✃

♡'･ᴗ･'♡genre: yandere (lowkey a romance turned horror)

✫彡wordcount: 12k

♫"You're my baby, say it to me." Mitski, I Bet on Losing Dogs

ಠ_ಠwarning/content: hwa is CRAZY FFR, slow burn that kicks into overdrive, reader is an age regressor, ignoring red flags, they smooch, enjoy before it goes downhill 😭 panic attacks, insinuated sh(not reader), past abusive relationship, drugging, detailed recount of murder. only briefly proof read

✩index: little space- a regressed state of mind where someone feels like a child. little / age regressor - a person with a little space. caregiver - someone who cares for a little, usually their significant other. hyung - a close male friend older than you, used by other males.

♫"Since the creation of the universe, everything was destined. Just let me love you." Jimin, Serendipity

➯disclaimer: this is a work of fiction and does NOT represent a healthy little and caregiver relationship, or a healthy relationship of any kind.

MATURE UNDER CUT MDNI

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

It was most likely a mistake on Seonghwa's part to be here. If there was a single photo with his face in it, it would most probably mean the end of his career. But he couldn't help himself. It was something he was always interested in.

    His members say he a natural caring aura about him, and they aren't wrong. Something in his brain tells him to care for everyone and everything, especially things he finds adorable.

It's still considered taboo in Korea, but even taboo things have their place in the world.

With a mask over his face, thick rimmed glasses, and a cap; he bit the bullet and entered the convention. He saw a post about it online, urging littles and their caregivers to come and support small businesses that made things within the community.

Although he had no use for these things, no little of his own, he figured it would be a good place to get a feel for the community.

It was surprisingly busy for how much stigma was around the entire idea. People were polite to one another, treating everyone like a good friend. It was different from the rest of Korea; where people kept to themselves for the most part.

He was simply admiring the different variations of bottles made to fit in a bigger hand when he saw it —

    When he saw... you.

    At the booth next to him, biting your nail as you looked down at the array of pacifiers with a look on your face that would make anyone think you were making the most important decision of your life.

    You were... you are breathtaking.

    Against his best judgment, his promise to himself to stay under the radar, he speaks up, "big decision?" 

     You jump up a little bit, placing a hand against your colorfully striped t-shirt. You look him up and down.

    "Sorry," he gives you a bow as he steps closer, looking down at the display with you.

    "Ah, it's okay," you smile, shifting on your feet, "yeah, I'm having some trouble. I promised myself I would only get one but they're all calling my name."

   The little laugh in your voice has his heart thudding wildly, and he passes off his deep calming breath like he's thinking over it as well; bending to get a better look.

    "Do you," he clears his throat, "maybe you could ask your caregiver?" Please, say you don't have one. Please, say you don't have one. Please, say you don't have one. Pl-

    "Oh, I don't have one," you give him a half-smile, looking him up and down once more. He looks well put together and something about him draws you in. He smells like the Earth after it rains. You want to talk to him more. "Your little must be missing you." Please, say you don't have one. Please, say you don't have one. Please, say you don't have-

    "I don't have a little." He pauses before shaking his hands, "not that I'm here to try and find one! That would probably be weird, I'm just curious! No- not curious, I know I want to be a caregiver but-"

    Your precious laugh cuts his rambling off, "hey, it's okay, no judgment here," you gesture around, "clearly."

    "Ah," he nods; thankful that his mask is hiding his embarrassed blush, "it's my first time at one of these things... could you tell?"

    "Oh, yeah, immediately," you look down with a smile on your lips.

    "That obvious, huh?"

    "You stick out like a sore thumb, man."

    He laughs along with you, resting his elbows on the glass display case. "You fit in pretty well, though. Can I ask, how long have you been... been little?"

    "Hmm," you have a thoughtful pout as you look away from the case and at the lanyards on the sides of the pop up walls. "Four- eh, five years soon. How long have you known you want to be a caregiver?"

    He's happy that the conversation flows naturally, maybe it's your bubbly aura or your sweet personality. "Long time," he thinks to the first time he ever accidentally cooed at one of his sleeping members, "seven years maybe? I've always been drawn to taking care of people."

    "That's what makes a good caregiver. Always putting others first," you giggle, tapping your baby blue nails on the glass, "eh, if I can't decide by now I probably shouldn't buy one." 

    "Do you have one already?" The question slips before he can think over his words, making his heart drop at the thought that that's probably too intense of a question. But thankfully you don't think anything of it.

   "Yeah, but it's about time to replace it. They get worn down even if you take good care of them," you explain for him, resting your cheek in your palm as you meet his gaze. "How much do you know about this stuff?"

    "Oh, well," he whispers, looking away from your intense eye contact, "not much, admittedly..." He'd only read a few articles and followed a few pages, and he didn't think he'd be in a relationship with a little anytime soon so he hadn't invested time to deep diving.

    "Do you want to walk with me? I can tell you about it, if you like."

     "Really?" His head pops up quickly, and he sees you holding back a laugh at his eagerness.

    "Yeah!" You nod, giving a last peek towards a light pink pacifier before turning away, "can't have you wondering around here lost, right?"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

"So you don't?" Seonghwa tilts his head as he looks at the large onsies on display, the cute patterns making him smile under his mask.

"No, my little age is a liiiiittle too big for onsies," you laugh, "see what I did there? Ah, I'm hilarious." You look around, spotting a sign for one of the small businesses you know. You jump, quickly running over.

Seonghwa blinks in confusion for a moment before running after you, his long legs catching up with you easily.

"Miss Lee?" You peek around the stand, flinching back into Seonghwa's chest as the older woman pops into view, picking up a receipt she had dropped. "Ah!"

He quickly wraps his arms around your shoulders, similarly startled. When he notices, he quickly steps back and pats your shoulder instead.

"Oh, (Y/n)! Good to see you!"

"Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack," you joke, thankfully not noticing or caring enough about Seonghwas semi-hug to say anything. You slide into the make shift store, giving her a warm hug. "I didn't know you would be here."

"Last minute decision," she pats your back as she lets go of you, looking towards the man, "who's this?"

"Oh," you smile as you remember his presence, "this is Hwa. He's new to the whole thing, I was showing him around, answering some questions."

"Hello," he bows to the older woman, and she leans forward with a questioning expression.

"Why you wearing that? You a serial killer or something?"

You freeze at the old timers suspicion. It hadn't even crossed your mind.

"No, no, no," he shakes his head quickly at your weary face, "God, no!" He laughs nervously, looking around. Thankfully, Miss Lee's booth is in a further off corner because of her last minute attendance. And he doesn't know why, but he doesn't want his time with you to end.

So, he pulls down his mask. "Not a serial killer, I promise. I'm just... shy about this."

You smile lightly as you take in his features for the first time. Miss Lee tuts her tongue and waves her hand, "no reason to be shy, you're a pretty boy."

He pulls it back up quickly after giving you a smile which makes your heart melt.

"(Y/n), I have something for you! I was going to drop it off at your apartment if I didn't run into you," she's oblivious to your small flirting moment as she quickly changes the subject, opening up a box.

"Ah, I didn't order anything," you shake your head, helping the woman lift the heavy container onto the chair.

"I know, but the person who did cancelled on me, and I immediately thought of you. Their measurements are a bit bigger than you, but I know you like things baggy anyway, angel."

Seonghwa rests his arms on the pink dresser she has at the front, looking on with curiosity and smiling at the woman's kind words to you.

"Are you sure you couldn't sell it-"

"I want you to have it- ah, here it is!" She sets a folded up sweater into your arms. It's a pastel purple fabric that even looks soft to the touch, and he can tell it is by the way you rub your finger tips over it with a happy sigh. As you unfold it, you see her delicate embroidery on the front in a thin cursive. 'Baby', it says, the y at the end curling into a heart.

You pull it over your head without another moment of hesitation and hug the woman again.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

You lead Seonghwa with a new hop in your step, the large sweater bouncing with each of your excited moves. He can see why you like it, it makes you look adorable. He can tell it makes you feel that way, as well.

Your naturally happy personality is doubled by something as simple as a big, soft, sweater. It's fascinating. The psychologically behind all of this is intriguing to him.

"What about those?" He points to some plates with little separated areas, different cartoons and patterns on them.

"Hm?" You halt and come back to his side, "ah, lots of littles have sensory issues — just like kids do. When the food touches a different food it gets all icky." Your nose scrunches up at the thought, so he asks.

"Do you use them?"

"Oh, yeah. If my foods touch it's like they're contaminated. I know it's silly, b-"

"I don't think it's silly."

You look up at him, a soft smile gracing your face. "No?"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

He sits facing the wall, thankful to let his face get some fresh air without the fear of anyone seeing him. Especially now that he's with you.

There's a cafe across the street that you suggested after showing him almost everything to see; neither of you ready to part ways just yet.

"Tada~" You slide into the seat across from him, offering him his drink that you kindly paid for even though he insisted he could do so.

"Thanks," he smiles, happy that you can finally see his expressions when you smile back wider than before.

"No problem!" You watch as he takes a sip and chews on the boba with a pout on his lips. "Good?"

"Mhm! You were right," he quickly goes for another, making you chuckle as you sip on your own drink.

"So," he leans forward, "besides all of... that," he gestures to the busy gathering across the road, "what do you do?"

"I work for a law firm." His eyes widen, making you laugh loudly; he clearly wasn't expecting that. "In the filing room," you clarify, pushing up the long sleeves of the sweater and groaning when they fall back down.

"Ah, okay, sorry! I didn't meant to seem so shocked," he sets his drink down, motioning for you to bring your arm forward, "may I?"

"Thanks," you lift your arm out across the table, watching his fingers closely as he rolls up the fabric neatly, "uhm, what about you?" He pauses, and bites his lip as he reaches for your other arm. "Wait, you aren't actually a killer, are you?"

He huffs a laugh, shaking his head as he makes the sleeves even, "I'm uh... I'm in the entertainment industry."

"Oh, why are you so-"

"I'm an idol." He finally blurts out.

You stare at each other for a long moment, your arms dropping to the table with a thunk. "Huh?"

"I'm an idol. My name is Seonghwa, not just Hwa. I'm in a group called ATEEZ and I don't know why I'm telling you all this but I can't get my mouth to stop!" He slaps a hand over his mouth with a groan, thanking his lucky stars that nobody else is in the cafe and the worker has their headphones on.

You tilt your head, eyebrows pushing together. "No, you aren't," you shake your head, "no way! I see ads for that group everywhere, I would recognized y...ooooh." Your jaw drops as he holds up his phone, a picture of their latest promotional poster on the screen. Sure enough, there he is. And here he is, too, in front of you. "Shiiiit, damn!" You thud your head onto the table. "I thought I actually had a chance with you." It's your turn to blurt something out.

"... What?"

"What?" You parrot him, suddenly realizing what you said and sitting up stalk straight. "Wow, that was really inappropriate of me-"

"Can I take you on a date?"

You blink in surprise, daring to look him in the eyes. He looks as sincere as anyone ever has, his eyes glimmering with hope. You take a long sip of your drink before throwing your head back dramatically, "ugh! How could I say no to that?!"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

A couple of days later, your phone pings at work. With nothing to do, you bring it out from your pocket.

    HWA SENT TWO MESSAGES.

   You smile down at the device as you open them up.

    7:47AM. HWA SENT A MESSAGE. Okay, have a good day at work!

    9:16AM. HWA SENT A MESSAGE. Do you have plans tonight? My schedule opened up, I was wondering if I could give you that date?

   You tap your nails against the back of your phone as you think.

    9:18AM. YOU SENT A MESSAGE. i'm free after work ! what time were you thinking ?

    As soon as you sat it down, it buzzed again. "This guy," you laugh to yourself.

    9:20AM. HWA SENT A MESSAGE. I was thinking we could eat dinner together. What time do you usually eat?

  

   9:21AM. YOU SENT A MESSAGE. usually around 7, how does that sound ?

   9:23AM. HWA SENT A MESSAGE. That sounds good. Is it okay if I come to your place? I can bring whatever you like.

    You hesitate for a moment, biting your thumb. You don't know him that well. Inviting a stranger, a strange man, into your home was usually always asking for trouble.

    9:25AM. HWA SENT A MESSAGE. Sorry, that probably was weird of me to ask. We can find somewhere!

    Your anxiety is replaced by a smile as you type back quickly.

    9:25AM. YOU SENT A MESSAGE. no, that sounds good ! it would probably be hard to find a quiet place on a friday. i'll send my address to you in a bit !

    You slam the phone down and ignore the buzz as he texts you back after a few moments; staring ahead with wide eyes as you realize you just invented a man over to your home. You doubted he would try to take things further than a cheek kiss; even that was a big maybe. But it was still nerve wracking.

   But then... you think of the gentle way he rolled your sleeves, and the way he blurted out the truth to you against his better judgement. His smile, his pretty eyes.

    "Ugh!" You slam your head onto the desk. "I almost wish he was a serial killer."

    "What?!" Your coworker yells from the corner.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

    "A date!" Your best friend, Yejin, repeats for the third time in thirty minutes as you both rush around to pick up any mess in your apartment. 

    "Yes," you roll your eyes as you toss the broom at her.

     "A daaaate?" She laughs at your exhausted face, tired of her teasing.

   "Yup," you turn back around quickly, fixing up the pillows on your little sofa. "I'm already nervous, okay?"

    "Why didn't you go to a restaurant? I really didn't expect to go from not knowing this guy existed to cleaning your house so he can come over!"

    "Don't worry about it," you tut your tongue, rushing to pick up your coloring books and shove them into the box in the corner.

    "Does he know-"

    "Yes, he knows I'm an age regressor."

    She nods, suddenly having a more serious look about her.

    "What?"

    "I was going to ask does he know about Namsun..."

     You throw the last book with a sigh, sitting on the floor. She knows it's a sensitive subject, but she doesn't know how much this guy actually knows about you. She really didn't know you were even talking to someone until a few hours ago. But apparently he was trustworthy enough to invite over. "No..."

    "Are you sure it's a good idea to have him over so soon, Babe?" She crouches next to you, looking at you intently, "what do you even know about this guy?"

    "A lot..." I watched some of his videos, you want to say.

     She sighs, patting your shoulder as she glances at her watch. "It's almost seven, you should get ready." She knows there's no stopping you.

    There's no stopping destiny.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

      Seonghwa sets out the multiple styrofoam boxes on your short coffee table, sitting cross legged on a pillow you offered him. "Sorry, again," you say as you come back from the kitchen, handing him his choice of drinks after you'd called them out to him. "My dining table got broke like a year ago and I haven't had the time to replace it."

    "It's okay," he smiles, any time spent with you will be perfect, he wants to say. Way too soon for that, he knows. Instead, "thanks for agreeing to eat here. We can just relax, not worry about others."

    "Yeah, I get it! It must be hard to just do normal things when you're a celebrity." You hum as you hand him a plate, setting one infront of you as well.

    "Celebrity," he snorts a laugh, covering his mouth quickly, "sorry..."

    You laugh, shaking your head, "what? That was cute." You suck your lips in as you realize what you said, similarly looking down shyly. "Anyway! Let's eat, where's this from?"

    He takes a sip of his drink to calm himself before looking up and responding as he watches you open the boxes. "It's from a place called Lin's Express, I go there a lot with- hey, won't that bother you?" He pauses as he sees the flat plate infront of you, remembering the way your face scrunched up at the thought of food touching each other.

    You look down, blinking at the dish for a second before clarity hits you. "Oh, I forgot you know about that! I usually just deal with it when I eat with others."

    The thought makes him a bit sad. You shouldn't have to be uncomfortable just for the satisfaction or ease of others who don't understand. "No," he shakes his head, picking it up and placing it in your confused hands, "I want you to be comfortable. You should use one of your plates."

    You tilt your head as you look up from the plate, meeting his eyes. "Really? I mean- that won't make you feel like you're eating with a kid?"

    He shakes his head, quick to reassure you, "I know you're really an adult. I'm in your apartment, why would I think you're a kid if you eat from a divided plate?"

    "Yeah, I guess you're right," you smile, quickly going to the kitchen and exchanging your dish. He takes the moment to look around, taking in your style and the various pictures on your walls. From his spot on the floor, he can't make out a lot of them; but they seem to be different sceneries and some family photos.

     One of them catches his eye more than the others, it's of you and another woman your age on your left. The person on your right has been torn away and replaced by another photo; one of a beautiful sunrise taken high up. You were clearly trying to remove the person from the photo. But their hand is on your hip.

     "Better," you sit with a little sigh, not noticing his gaze on the photo as you finish opening up the few boxes.

    He looks away quickly when he feels you look at him, smiling over at you. "Good," he hums, picking up the chopsticks you provided him, "I want you to be comfortable with me!"

    "Thanks, Hwa," you mirror him, gathering some noodles onto a section of your plate, "Lin's Express, you said? Smells good!"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

      "You did?"

    You both lay on your backs on your living room floor, stomachs full and hearts content as you tilt your heads to look at each other.

    "I did! It was terrifying," you chuckle as you recount the day that you and Yejin swam with sharks, "I can't believe I let her convince me to do that! I mean... they were basking sharks, totally harmless, but still!"

    He laughs with you, "I would have freaked out the second I saw them. It's in our nature to be scared of things that can kill us!"

    "That's," you slap his shoulder playfully, "exactly! Exactly what I said! But she said it would be good for me to do something thrilling to feel empowered."

    "She sounds like a good friend," he thinks back to the picture, his eyes flitting to it, "is that her?"

    "Uh?" You follow his eyes, "yeah that's her! We've been friends for like... nine years now? Going on a decade."

    "Can I ask," he hesitates, "what happened to the rest of the picture?"

    "Oh," you roll over onto your stomach, folding your arms and resting your chin on them. "I guess that is kind of a weird thing to see hanging in someone's house..."

    He sees your mood faltering, so he places a hand on your arm gently, "you don't have to tell me. It can be a story for another day."

     "Thanks, it's definitely a 'another day' type of story," you lean and kiss his knuckle before sitting up. You don't notice the blush on his cheeks or the way he holds his kissed hand to his chest. You stretch your arms over your head and look at the ticking clock. "Woah, we've been talking for four hours!"

    "What?!" He sits up quickly and surely enough — the clock reads fifteen past ten. "Oh, shit," he scrambles for his phone, left face down on the table, "sorry, I promised my members I'd check in every so often."

   "Oh, crap! I told Yejin the same!" You dive for the couch, and aren't surprised to see a barrage of messages and missed calls from your friend. The most recent of which reading:

    9:45PM. JINAH SENT A MESSAGE. OKAY THATS IT IM CHECKING YOUR BLINK TO MAKE AURE HE DIDNT DRAG YOUR BODY OUT

    9:51PM. JINAH SENT A MESSAGE. dude, if you're getting laid right now and not DEAD IN A DITCH I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF

    10PM. JINAH SENT A MESSAGE. please don't be dead in a ditch

     You quickly reply to tell her that you're in fact alive, chuckling as you see her go back and forth with herself trying to figure out if you're dead or just 'getting the pipe' as she put it.

     Seonghwas voice pulls you from your phone, "Dude! Would you stop face-timing me while I'm trying to type?" He frowns at his phone before looking up and giving you an apologetic look.

     "Dude!" The man over the device mocks him, "would you answer the fucking phone so we know you're not being help captive?! You asshole, what were you doing for four hours?"

    "We were just-"

    "Holy shit..." The tone of his voice makes Seonghwa try to stop him before he can say something embarrassing.

     "No! No, no, Wooyoung-" Try, that is.

    "Yah, guys! He was just getting laid!"

     Seonghwa drops the phone, hiding in his hands.

     You burst into laughter, your head tilted back with the force of it. He looks up, watching with a fond glint in his eyes as you cover your mouth with your arm, sound still managing to escape.

     "Oh," the man on the phone whispers like he isn't being projected through a speaker, "oh, fuck, Hyung... can she hear me?"

    "Bye, Wooyoung!"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡ 

     The next date is a week later, and he says he's more than happy to host you as it would be nearly impossible to find a quiet place where you wouldn't be noticed on a Saturday.

    He opens the door with a big smile, relief flooding him as he sees you.

    "Hey, Hwa," you smile up at him, shifting your weight on your feet.

    "You look adorable." He says it before he even realizes it, but he doesn't regret it one bit.

    To the untrained eye, you're just in a girly outfit with your hair moved out of your face to fight off the heat.

    But Seonghwa has been reading up on everything to do with age regression, even more than before now that he's talking with you. Much more. Anything remotely little space related, he would bookmark.

    One thing he remembers most clearly is about how littles can try to comfort themselves in public. With things that could be passed off as something else if they were questioned about it. Things like coloring or drawing and saying it's meditative. Or fidget toys, you could easily say help with anxiety. Or like right now, you're wearing more 'childish' clothes that could be passed off as your style or vibe.

     "Oh, really?" You look down at your outfit shyly. You wanted a little bit of extra comfort in a new place, so you made yourself feel small with your choices. "Thank you."

    "Yeah," he sounds almost breathless as he looks you up and down for the umpteenth time.

    "Who's at the door?" Someone yells from within, breaking his trance.

    "Sorry, come in, come in." He quickly ushers you inside, "you can just put your shoes over with ours, here." He takes them for you, placing them on the racks with multiple other pairs.

    "Thanks, Hwa," you look around the apartment, unaware of how the nickname makes his heart flutter. You never stopped calling him that even after he told you his full name. "What did you have plan-"

    "Ah!" Someone yells as they exit the hallway, their eyes immediately on your unfamiliar face, "who is this?!"

    Seonghwa's body reacts before his mind again, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and holding you to himself as you both get startled; just like the first day you met. "Jesus, Wooyoung!" He scolds the other man, letting out a sigh. "What are you doing? You scared the crap out of me," he rubs your shoulders briefly before he lets go of you, "you don't even live here."

    "Me scared you? You're the one who brought a girl over unannounced! What if I was naked?!"

    You cover your mouth as your giggles threaten to come up, looking between them as they go back and forth.

    "I told the people who actually live with me, that-"

    "Well, I didn't hear about this!"

     "Because you don't live in this apartment, Young-ie! And why would you be naked?!"

    "I'm-"

    "Will you-"

     "Hey, you must be (Y/n)," another man greets much more politely as he comes out behind Wooyoung, giving you a bow which you quickly return.

    "(Y/n)? Like first date was five hours long (Y/n)?" Wooyoung gets slapped with realization, "oooooh! Sorry, sorry," he nods quickly, smiling your way. 

    "Yeah, Hyung told me and Mingi she would be coming over." Seonghwa gives Wooyoung a look that screams 'told you.'

     "Nice to meet you," you bow again, standing by his side like you're afraid to move away.

    He's internally freaking the fuck out at the fact you're really here, even more so that you're being so nice to his members even though one of them just jump scared you and only a week ago insinuated that you slept with him.

    "Sorry about-" Wooyoung clears his throat, "yeah, sorry."

    "Are you thirsty," Seonghwa ignores the two of them and looks down at you, "I saw that you walked here, it's a pretty long way."

    You have butterflies in your stomach at the thought of him watching your location, making sure you found your way to him safely. "Uhm, a little bit."

    "Come on," he grabs your hand gently and leads you, "sorry about them. I diiid warn you."

    Wooyoung and San watch you disappear into the kitchen, the younger tilting his head. "I didn't know Hyung was into girly girls. Ow! What was that for?"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

"Do you see this piece?"

His floor is covered in an array of Lego pieces, he sits cross legged on one side of the pile and you're laid on your stomach on the other.

You turn your instruction packet to face him, still searching.

You're making a bouquet of flowers, and he's making a vase for them to go in; talking about random things that come up as you go.

It been about two hours and you're both on your final pieces. But you can't find one of the long green sticks that the bodies of your flowers go on.

"Uhm," he looks around the few remaining pieces, pouting, "no, I don't."

"Dang," you close the book with a small huff, then a shrug, "we're missing one of the stems! One, two, three..." You count the ones in your hand again.

"Hmmm," he looks over the flowers you made and picks one up carefully. A black dahlia. "Maybe, I can keep this one? And you can put the rest on the stems?"

You slide up to sit on your knees and think for a second. "Smart! I was just going to use a straw or something, that probably wouldn't have gone too well," you laugh, gently putting the remaining flowers onto the sticks while he carefully sets the dahlia on his desk.

"Creative, I like it," he smiles as he watches over you for a moment. You move the plastic flowers into different places in your hand, trying to figure out how to arrange them.

You're doing something so simple, mundane.

But Seonghwa thinks you're the most beautiful girl in the world in that moment.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

"Food!" Comes a muffled yell from somewhere in the apartment.

You and Seonghwa were laid side by side on his bed, his fingers tracing yours as he listens intently to your stories and shares his own.

"Uh?" He picks up his phone and looks at the time, his eyes widening, "oh, the time got away from us again," he chuckles as he shows you. It's already 8 in the evening, when you had arrived sometime around 3 in the afternoon.

It feels like time doesn't exist when he's with you. Nothing does.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry," you sit up quickly, and he comes with you.

"There's nothing to apologize for," he reassures as he sets a hand on your back softly, "uhm, since you're here, if you want to, why don't you eat with us?"

"That's sweet, but I'd feel like I'm intruding." You pick up your bag where he hung it off the back of his chair, straightening out your clothes. "I had a really good time-"

"Come on, Baby. You have to eat, don't feel like you're intruding."

You stop in your tracks, bag half on your shoulder. "...what?"

He swings his legs off the edge of the bed quickly, looking at you closely. Did he say something wrong? Did he push your boundaries? Fuck fuck fuck fuck, fix this!

"Sorry, I just meant that we'd be more than glad to have you eat here! It isn't a problem at all, I-"

"Baby?"

He slaps a hand over his mouth as he recalls his words, quickly standing and bowing to you over and over as you stand there star-struck. "I'm sorry, (Y/n), I didn't mean to call you that, it just slipped out! Please, forgive me."

He pauses when he feels your hand on his shoulder. He's scared to look up, but he does anyway.

And he's immediately relieved.

You're smiling down at him, "it's okay, Hwa. I can be your Baby." You lean and give him a modest kiss to his cheek before pulling away all too quickly and putting your bag back on the chair. "Let's eat, yeah?"

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

The table has a comfortable atmosphere around it as you all eat and talk together.

You hear all kinds of stories about the man you're now officially dating, ranging from hilarious to heartwarming.

He sits beside you, chin in his hand as he watches you talking with his members; a smile stuck on his face.

San and Mingi, his roommates, tell you jokingly to be careful about messes because their Hyung is a neat-freak. Wooyoung apologizes for his behavior and then immediately gets his hand smacked with San's chopsticks as he tries to sneak a piece of meat from his plate. Yeosang, who only came over to get a charger, ended up staying when you and him clicked.

"You seriously don't know any of our songs? You didn't look us up? I find that hard to believe," Yeosang eyes you kiddingly, "in this day and age? I bet Seonghwa Hyung looked you up. Am I right?"

Seonghwa tears his eyes from you and looks up at the ceiling, "uhhhm, no! Nope." His voice is high and clearly he's lying, so you shove his shoulder lightly.

"Yah, no way! Psh, jokes on you. There's much more information about you online than there is about me."

"So, you did Google him?" Wooyoung smirks from across the table, leaning over it.

"Well-" Your mouth opens and closes a few times like a fish out of water before they start laughing. "Can you blame me?! I mean, c'mon! Look at him, I had to know if I stood a chance!" You groan, covering your face with your hand.

Seonghwa places a hand on your head as he leans towards you in his laughter, his eyes shut as he presses his forehead to your shoulder. Mingi is about to fall off his chair at the look on your face as you got caught red handed. Yeosang punches your other shoulder gently, "I knew it!"

"Okay, okay! I did look him up but I didn't full on stalk him! Just like... the basics. Like what he probably saw about me when he was doing the same thing!" You laugh with them, leaning back in your chair.

"Ah," he sighs, wiping his eyes as he leans back into his own space, "so we're on an even playing field, you think?"

"I know how to tell!" Wooyoung jumps up, slamming his hands on the table.

A few minutes later, you and Seonghwa sit side by side on the couch, a piece of paper and a pen for each of you curtesy of Mingi.

It's starting to rumble with thunder outside, so you figured you'd stay and wait out the storm. April showers. That's all it is, it should pass within the hour. Plus; you're having a good time.

"So, we're writing down the answer for each other, right?" You question, twirling the pen in your fingers, "so if you say, like, 'favorite movie' I would write what I think his favorite movie is?"

"Yup! Ready? Birthday?!" He starts slamming you both with questions, San and Mingi chuckling as Yeosang watches with his cheek in his palm; curled up in an armchair.

Birthday, zodiac sign, favorite movie (because of course he stole your question), favorite weather, parents names, the list went on until you both ran out of space on the papers.

He switches your papers, and tells you to grade each other.

Seonghwa smiles as he sees that you know the answer to almost every question besides the more obscure or personal ones.

Your eyes widen as you put check mark after check mark to his answers. Do you really talk that much? Did you really tell him your mother's name? You have been talking almost nonstop for a month, whenever you both were free almost all of your free time went to texting or calling. But did you already mention your love language or was he just that observant? When had you talked about your fear of the dark?

"Hwa..." You whisper, calling their attention, you feel a bit of a shiver down your spine but you attribute it to the air conditioning. "Are you sure you aren't a serial killer? How do you know I'm afraid of the dark?" You force a little huff of a laugh, peeking at him. The others look at him curiously.

"Hm?" He looks at the paper and blushes a bit. "Oh, I uh... I admittedly had a look at your Instagram, I saw that a lot of your pictures were taken in a light night, so I guessed..."

It's quiet for a second.

"Wow, you're a creep, Hyung!" Wooyoungs outburst breaks the thickness in the air, making it comfortable once again.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

"It doesn't seem like it's going to clear up," Seonghwa sighs as he clicks off the weather channel, looking over to where you stand at the windows, watching the storm crash down on the city.

It was just you and him in the living room, Yeosang and Wooyoung returned to their own apartments and San and Mingi retired to bed.

"Ah, I should call Yejin and have her pick me up so you can get some rest." Before you can go to retrieve your phone from the table, he stands up.

"You don't have to do that, Baby," he hums, rubbing your arm gently as he sees the worried look on your adorable face, "nobody should be driving in this, it's too dangerous. You can sleep here, take the bed; I'll sleep on the couch-"

"No, no," you shake your head, looking down, "I can't possibly do that. I've already-"

"I promise it's okay." He stops you, looking down at you sincerely, "we could call it a sleep over." He cracks as smile as you giggle, gesturing with his head down the hall, "come on, you can wear something of mine to sleep in."

You thank him again and again as he gathers you something that will fit, even give him another kiss on the cheek before you close the door to the bathroom to change.

He changes while you're in the bathroom and then sits down on the edge of his bed with wide eyes. He can't believe he got you to stay. He can't believe you're going to sleep in his bed. He can't believe you've kissed his cheek... twice. He can't believe you believed his bullshit lie about Instagram.

Truth be told, the first time you hung out; he snooped. He 'accidentally' opened the door to your bedroom instead of the bathroom. He learned as much as he could in as little time as possible.

When you come back to his room, his heart feels like it simultaneously stops and beats a million miles per hour.

The sleep pants he lent you fit a little awkwardly but you look comfortable. The sweater you had brought with you just in case hides your hands as you fidget with them nervously.

His back straightens as he looks you up and down. "Wow..."

Just like before. It's something mundane. Domestic. And —

"You look so beautiful."

He only realizes that he said it out loud because your eyes widen. Then his do. It's a staring contest of sorts.

"Sorry." He blurts out. "Actually," he takes it back, "I'm not sorry. I mean it. You're beautiful."

Your ears feel red hot, "s-shut up," you laugh lightly as you set your folded up clothes with your bag.

When you turn around, he's right behind you. "Oh my!" He snuck up on you in what seems like a millisecond, quiet as a mouse. But he's looking down at you like a hawk. "Hwa, is-"

"Can I kiss you?"

The question comes seemingly out of nowhere. But it's been on his mind since the second you entered his room for the first time.

You feel sunburnt everywhere as your blood rushes, licking your lips when your eyes copy his and look at his plump lips as he looks at yours. "Ye-"

His lips crash into yours, his hands hesitating before he brings them up. His finger tips graze your cheeks softly before his palms slowly cradle them, holding you tenderly as your lips move together without hurry.

He leads you to the bed, falling on his back and letting you crash onto him as your lips refuse to part from each other.

Your hands find purchase on either side of his head, and his find their way to your hips.

Your entire body is on fire. His entire being is set ablaze.

Your bodies start to move against each other in tandem with your lips as your mouths part, allowing one another to get your first taste of each other.

He's already addicted.

So he's thankful when you pull back, panting, and whisper, "stay with me."

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

April is gone and in comes May. You've been dating Park Seonghwa for just over four weeks when he shows up at your door on a random Tuesday.

A random Tuesday that you just so happen to be home sick on.

"Hwa," you whine as you open the door, "I told you not to come over. I don't want to get you sick."

He simply smiles and lifts up a plastic bag on his fingers, "Lin's Express?"

You immediately turn around and head back inside, "come in, then."

"I thought so," he laughs airily, closing the door behind him, "have you taken any medicine, Baby?"

"Uhhhh," you groan on as you fall back into the couch were you've set yourself up, "couple of hours ago, but I ran out-"

"Wham!" He grins widely as he places a bottle of cold medicine on the coffee table, from the bag that had been in his other hand.

"H- wha-" You stutter, "how in the world do you know me so well?"

He shrugs playfully, taking off the seal before handing it to you, "here you go."

"Thanks, Hwa," you down some quickly before falling back across the couch, watching as he sets out the food. "Why aren't you at work?"

"I know you haven't felt good for a few days so I asked to record my lines first, so I could come take care of you as early as I could."

The words, you don't know why, they make you tear up. When you sniffle, he looks up quickly.

"Baby?"

"You're so sweet," you wipe your eyes with the back of your hand, "I think I'm still in denial."

"Denial?" He asks quietly as he shuffles to the couch on his knees, rubbing your side softly. "Denial of what?"

"That you chose me to be with. You could have anyone you want, and you're here. You- you're here. Taking care of me when I'm sick."

He pouts, leaning his head down on the armrest to mirror yours. "I don't want anyone else."

Your brows push together. He sounds so serious.

"I don't want to be anywhere else. With anyone else. I only want to be with you. You make me feel... peace. Peace that I haven't felt in- in... ever." He won't tell you this, but after the first night you spent at his apartment; he took a walk to the river the next day and threw his razor blades in the rushing water. You gave him the relief that they used to provide. And you did it so softly. "I don't want anyone else. I want you. I chose you."

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

You don't know how it happened, but after that, you found yourself falling into your little space.

    Maybe it was a mix of his loving words and soft touches as he helped you sit up and eat. A mix of exhaustion and emotions pushing you to go to your safe space.

    You never went there with him before. But no matter how hard you fought it, you still found yourself feeling tiny.

   You've both talked about it a lot, about what you did and how you felt and what you wanted. But you were still scared to let someone in after what happened last time.

    He notices you biting your lip, deep in thought as he rinses the dishes. "Everything okay, Baby?"

    Damn his favorite nickname for you, making you shrink even more. "I think, uhm," you look around, picking at your gingham pajama shorts. They're too rough for your increasingly fragile state. "Oh, I'm having a panic attack." You realize, stating it nonchalantly.

    "What?" He quickly turns off the faucet, drying his hands on the way to you, worry clear on his face. He stops a few steps away, wanting nothing more than to embrace you as he watches your breathing get shallow and sharp, but he knows better than to crowd someone having a panic attack from his experiences with his members and himself. He crouches and tries to meet your gaze, but your eyes are going too fast from place to place. "Baby, look at me, please?"

    Your eyes stop their incessant scanning of the rooms, landing on him with tears pressing against your waterline.

    "What can I do to help you, right now?" Clear and soft questions. He doesn't want to make you go deeper into your panic.

    "I n-" You heave, fingers still picking at the rough fabric of your shorts, "I need to change." You settle on, abruptly standing up — only to get dizzy and fall back down, Seonghwa's hands outreached; having been ready to catch you.

     "Okay, okay, can I pick you up? Is that okay? You're not in a place to walk," he approaches gradually, keeping his hands visible.

    You nod without a second thought. The panic attack you forced yourself into in the midst of fighting yourself officially put your mind into little space.

    You hold onto him tightly as he gently and slowly wraps his arms around you and lifts you up. Your arms lock around his neck and your legs around his waist.

     He makes the trip to your room quickly, even though he wants to revel in the feeling of you clinging to him; he knows it's not the time.

    You hesitate to let go of him when he sets you on your bed, a small whine leaving you that makes his heart tug as he lets go of you.

    "Which drawer, Baby?"

      You point. The one on the bottom.

    When he opens it, he starts putting the dots together on what made you freak out. This drawer seems to be dedicated to childish looking clothes of all kinds. He was making you fall into your regression.

    He bites back a smile as he moves to the side and lets you point again. He knew it was only a matter of time, especially with the way you froze when he first called you Baby. Especially with the way he was purposefully being extra caring while you were sick; having read that age regressors often went to their safe place when sick or stressed. 

    He successfully gathers what you wordlessly ask for, and sets the clothes on the bed next to you, "do you need help, Baby?" Another whine leaves you, and you struggle with yourself for a moment before nodding.

     Finally, he thinks as he helps you into the Tinkerbell themed pajamas.

    Finally.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

   When you manage to calm yourself down with the help of Seonghwa's soft humming, he finally asks (though he already knows the answer), "do you want to tell me what happened?"

You're feeling so nice and fuzzy-headed when you finally stop fighting yourself, you almost don't know what he's talking about. "Oh... I was scared." You decided on a simple answer until you're prompted more.

And prompt he does, "what were you scared of, angel?"

You melt into the way he's holding you as he lets slip another sweet nickname. You don't want to think about that, but the logic in the back of your brain says that he deserves to know.

He waits for your brain to catch up and find your words, rubbing your back slowly and looking at you intently.

"I was scared that you would be like... like a bad daddy," you sigh, playing with the fur on one of your stuffed animals. "But you aren't. He was a butthole."

The way he chuckles makes you move from your place on his chest, and you giggle at the feeling. "A butthole?"

"Yeah!" You sit up, groaning as your sick body protests. You look down at him, and he can see the change in your mindset. Your eyes are a window to your soul; and right now your soul is small and putting all of your trust in him not to squish you. "But you aren't. You're... the best."

"Are you feeling small, Baby?"

You bite your lip. He notices you do that a lot in little space, even in the short amount of time it's been. "Yeah..."

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Please say yes. Please say yes. Please let me stay. Please say-

"Yes. If you want to?" Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes. Please don't leave me-

"Of course I want to."

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

    It's beautiful outside about a week later. The park has people few and far between because it's a weekday, you used a vacation day to spend it with Seonghwa.

    His job made things harder to work around, but you were more than willing to hop around weird schedules and hidden dates.

    The sun is beginning to set on the horizon. It paints the sky pink and orange. Birds are flocking together. The leaves and flowers blow with the gentle breeze. You're sitting on some cement steps next to a large tree.

    "Are you one of those people who bruise easily?" He asks out of nowhere.

   "What?" You look over at him with wide eyes. Lately, if something he says even has a hint of anything strange in it out of context; your body goes into fight or flight. You blame it on your trust issues, getting used to being in a relationship again.

    "Do you bruise easily?" He repeats himself as he gestures to the mark on your arm.

    "Oh," you sigh a laugh, rubbing over the bruise, "I guess I am. I hit it on a filing cabinet yesterday."

    "Awe," he leans and kisses it softly, "My Baby needs to be careful."

    "I'll be careful," you smile as you rest your forehead on his.

    These past two months have been beautiful. You're starting to think you've met 'the one'. Besides the little overbearing things here and there, or the strange look in his eye when you get too casual with Yeosang, Seonghwa is the man of your dreams.

    He even suggested that you called him 'Mommy' while in little space so that you never connect him with the 'Daddy' who mistreated you. He says he likes it better that way, anyway. He always been more traditionally 'motherly' when caring for others.

   You can't argue with that. He really is. Soft, and nurturing, and beyond attentive. And his eyes light up when you say it.

    "Give me a kiss," you implore him, fingers dragging through his grown out hair gingerly. You'll be sad when he has to cut it. He lets you put it in pigtails and braids. He lets you play with it until you both fall asleep whenever you spend the night together. It's only been a few times, but it's the best sleep he's ever gotten. He finds it hard to sleep without you most nights, now.

    "Can't say no to that," he rejoices as he cups one of your cheeks, bringing you in close and kissing you just the way that makes you putty in hands.

    You sigh into the kiss; leaning to follow him as he pulls away, making him chuckle, "we're in public, Baby."

    "Mh, let's go to my place."

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

    You get a message from him during the work day the day after that. He should be busy. You are busy.

    You get another. Your phone is lying face down on your desk as you make copies.

    It goes off quite a few times.

    When you finally sit down, your eyes widen.

    HWA<3 SENT SIX MESSAGES.

    TWO MISSED CALLS FROM HWA<3.

    You open them up quickly.

   1:32PM. HWA <3 SENT A MESSAGE. Baby, don't freak out

   1:32PM. HWA <3 SENT A MESSAGE. Just promise you'll stay calm, okay?

   1:33PM. HWA <3 SENT A MESSAGE. I swear to God, I'll take care of this

   1:35PM. HWA <3 SENT A MESSAGE. You're busy at work? I hope so

   1:35PM. HWA <3 SENT A MESSAGE. Don't look online. Don't read any of it, okay?

   1:37PM. HWA <3 SENT A MESSAGE. I'll meet you at your place

   "What..." You look at the time. 1:52. There was still hours until the work day ended.

    Against his text, you open up Google. You pause for a moment. He didn't even say what happened.

    You type in his name, and go to the news section. Your eyes fill with tears immediately.

    All of the latest news articles are about his girlfriend. About you. Thankfully your name isn't on any of them. Thankfully your face is blocked by his in the picture of you sharing a kiss.

    No. No. No. No. No. No.

    You almost forgotten that this was a possibility. You were so wrapped up in his love that you forgot that his entire life is public.

    Against your better judgment, you click on the comments under one of the articles. Some say how cute you look together. Some speculate if you work in the industry. Some are mean.

      You shut off your phone and walk right out of your office building.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

     "She doesn't want to talk to you yet."

    Seonghwa jumps up from his spot sitting leaning against your apartment door. He'd been there for hours. He knocked for a long time. But he didn't get any answer. Your phone went straight to voicemail for a while.

    He comes face to face with the woman who was in the torn picture with you. A few years older, sure, but that's her. "Yejin, right?! Oh my god, is she okay? Did you talk to her? Please-"

    "She's not. She called me to come over and help her with figuring things out."

    "Figure-" He stutters, "what? I'm her boyfriend, I'm the one she should be 'figuring things out' with!"

   "Look, you seem like a good guy. But she isn't used to being in the spotlight. If I had known you were an idol, I'd have smacked her silly for even thinking about dating you."

    He's frozen in his spot, eyes sad and posture slumped.

    "But... she's been really happy with you. I think she just needs some time to, uhm, process. After everything she's been through with Namsun, at least give her that." She seems to notice the confused look in his eyes. "Oh, shit, she hasn't told you..."

    Her phone pings.

    "Is that her?" He jumps, "please, tell her to answer me-"

     "Give me your number."

    "What?" He's more confused than before, but he types it into her phone as she swipes the spare key from the top of the door frame.

    "I'll text you when we're done talking. She really likes you, so you deserve a chance. I'll tell you what she says. But for the love of God," she unlocks the door and steps in, "give her some space."

    

     He only catches a glimpse of you in the living room as she retrieves her phone —

    Before the door is slammed in his face.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

    Time passes. Agonizingly slow.

   Seonghwa got a text from Yejin that said you were still trying to sort your thoughts. And that was all he got.

    Ever since you met, you hadn't gone a day without speaking.

    Now it was bordering on 48 hours.

   He was sitting on the couch with Mingi and Hongjoong, his best friend trying to console him as all he did was stare at whatever was on the television. He hadn't eaten, and he certainly hadn't slept. He'd barely moved.

   Just stared at his phone and waited.

  When his phone pings with a soft and bright tone that he set specifically to you, he throws himself off of the couch. The sudden movement makes the others flinch. He hadn't even lifted a finger in the past two hours.

     He falls to his knees as he grabs his phone, reading the message immediately.

    No...

   The words can't be real, they can't be.

   You tell him that you enjoyed every second with him, that you think he's the best person you've ever been with. But you can't be with him. Not right now. You aren't meant for the spotlight. He is, though. And he should enjoy it. But you can't be with him and have a clear conscience when you know that your very presence in his life causes issues in his career. And you certainly can't deal with the pressure of always being under a microscope. He's strong for being able to handle it, you say. You tell him that maybe in the future you can be together again, or in a different timeline. And at the very end —

    love, your baby

    He loses his fucking mind.

    His phone, which has been being squeezed progressively tighter; finally shatters in his hand. "Hyung!" Hongjoong yelps, stepping forward to make sure he's okay, "what-"

     A scream of pure heartache rips through the apartment. The building. The entire street.

    Mingi slams his hands over his ears and grimaces, looking at Seonghwa with a mixture of sadness and fear.

    He's had episodes like this before. Fits of emotion that couldn't be contained. They usually ended in destruction, but they didn't usually start with it. They didn't start this fast. It was always a slow build of moments when he would become snappy, irritable. They'd grow closer and closer together until one day he just lost it; he couldn't hold himself back anymore. And then destruction would begin.

   But he skipped all of that. A few minutes ago, he was staring blankly at nothing in particular — now he's smashing his fist against his broken phone, yelling.

   Not a lot of words manage to form on his tongue, just shouts and yells of "no" that tell Hongjoong and Mingi to back up because things are about to get uglier.

❝you're my baby, say it to me❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

     You manage to drag yourself to and from work the following two days after you officially broke things off with Seonghwa. Thankfully, since your face wasn't visible in any of the photos, life continued as it did before you met him.

    You kept looking at your phone, expecting to see a message from him. You don't know what you expect it to say - what you expect him to say.

    But you guess he's just as heart broken as you are.

    It's a classic case of right person, wrong time. That's what you tell yourself over and over. Wrong time. Wrong time. Wrong time.

     On your way out of work on the third day, you get a text from Yejin canceling your movie night plans last minute. She's been your rock through it all, so you can't fault her for missing one night of plans.

    Instead, you take a long walk. A long walk. The sky becomes dark and the streetlights flick on overhead as you walk back the way you came hours before.

    You're listening to his groups music on your headphones. You weren't lying when you told them you never heard them. And it was probably a mistake to start now — because his voice does just as much to soothe the ache in your heart as it does to break it. It leaves you somewhere in the middle. But it solidifies the fact that he's born to be an idol. And idols don't date without drama. And you don't want any part of it.

    Most of the lights in your apartment building are off. The sensor light flicks on as you enter your floor, a sigh leaving your lips as you let your fingers relax around your keys.

     The lock doesn't turn when you unlock it. It's already undone. You've been a bit frazzled lately.

     "Damn it, (Y/n)," you mumble to yourself as you hang your keys, flicking the light on as you kick your shoes off. When you turn around, you scream.

    Seonghwa is there. Sitting on your couch with something sad in his eyes, mixed with something... darker.

    "Sweet Mary!" You yell, dropping your phone and bag to the floor. "Hwa?"

    "Hey."

  "H-hey?! What do you mean 'hey'?What are you doing in my apartment?!"

    He gestures to the food on your table infront of him, "Lin's Express."

    "Hwa, please... Don't make me say it again."

    "Please," he stands up quickly, tears in his eyes, "please! Can we just talk? Face to face? I need... I need to know..."

    You suck your lips in, scratching your head as you take in his appearance. He looks... well, wrecked. Like he hasn't slept a wink and he's been crying.

    You already know that you won't change your mind. But you suppose that your text message wasn't the best way to end things. You suppose it's fitting to end things where they started.

    "Fine, we can talk."

   He falls to his knees and bows to you, his forehead on the floor. "Oh, thank you, Baby, thank you, thank you."

    It's silent for a while as you eat, and you can tell he wants to say something; wants to say a lot of things.

    He waits until you're both done eating to do so.

    "I met with Yejin earlier." He says quickly. "I told her I needed closure. To know why you broke up with me."

     "What?" That must be why she canceled your plans.

    "I met her at her office. She told me about Namsun. Told me how he fucked you up so bad that you didn't even trust her for a while. Said that you were probably just relapsing with your trust issues." He speaks slowly, you can barely hear him over the thudding of your heart.

   His figure is starting to get blurry. From your tears and from... something else. Something making your limbs heavy as well. "I don't blame you for not telling me, Baby. I wish you had, but I can see why you didn't. My poor Baby had to deal with such an evil caregiver-"

    "Hwa-"

    "Yejin told me a lot, actually. She opened up like a book. I don't think she's told a lot of people, cause she went on and on. She told me how you met him in school and fell in love and let him into your safe space... your little space. And he corrupted it. Took away your comfort items when you did the smallest thing wrong. Didn't encourage you to be childish. Did nasty things to you..."

    "Hey-"

  "She told me how many times she had to patch up your wounds and help you cover bruises. She told me everything, Baby. She told me about the night you finally ended it with him. How he threw you through the kitchen table and left you for dead. She was so angry, she really cares about you. She was so angry that she cursed his full name and prayed that God burn down his place of work."

    "Why are-"

   "I went there. I went to the restaurant he works at. I got a table. And I waited. I waited until he finally clocked in. Then I sat there and watched him. When they closed, I followed him out. I followed him for a long time. I didn't know what I was going to do, I just knew it was something. He stopped at the edge of the river to smoke a cigarette. And I came up to him. He was an asshole, immediately. I asked him if he knew (Y/n). He said 'I fucked that bitch up good.' And then... I stabbed him in the throat. Again and again and again. When he finally fell over, I got ontop of him and did it more. How dare he speak about you like that, that's all I could think. I wanted to destroy him. And I... I did! I stabbed that bastards neck so many times that his head came off. There was blood everywhere. It was horrible. But the funny thing is, I didn't feel anything. Not a thing. Because he had it coming. He hurt My Baby. So I cut his fucking head off and shoved his useless ass in the river. I'm telling you the truth. I killed that worthless fuck. And I don't regret anything."

He looks you in the eyes the entire time he speaks, holding your head still by cupping your cheeks as you try to look away. He doesn't look away as you begin sobbing and hyperventilating. He doesn't look away. "Don't you get it? You told me that you believe in destiny! This is destiny. Let me love you."

You gasp for air, turning your head back and forth to shake the murders hands away from you. "Oh, god!"

"Shhhh," he kisses your forehead, squishes your cheeks gently. His hands are clean, but you know that they'll always be stained with blood.

     "Do-don't touch me!" You stand up hastily, and the world spins around you.

    "Careful, Baby. Those pills I slipped into your food can make you dizzy-"

    You fall to the floor with a thud before he can reach you. You yell and push at him increasingly weakly as your body gets heavier by the second.

    This has to be some sort of fucked up nightmare. This can't be real. This can't be happening. He can't be doing this-

    But it is. He is.

    He drags your limp figure to the couch and lays you down, wiping your tears with his thumb. "Don't worry, Baby. It's just enough to knock you out."

    "Wh-at the fuck, Hwa?" You whimper as fear finally hits you full force. Primal, bone chilling fear as your body stops listening to your commands. Your vision is spiraling and steadily becoming blurrier and darker.

    "Don't worry, Baby," he repeats himself, leaning over you. His face is the last thing you see before sleep takes you, his voice ringing in your ears —

    "I'll take care of you. Just like I promised."

❝Serendipity❞ ✧ ೃ༄ ｡

[cloveroctobers]

HOW THEY DEAL WITH DISRESPECTFUL NEIGHBORS — MULTI [Summer Preferences]

A/N: thanks for voting on my poll, which I already knew who was going to win that but I still wanted to do a preference anyway since I never got around to writing what I originally wanted for my other characters on my summer prompt list rip to that idea! I’m writing in the order of which was voted from most to least highest minus one character.

WARNINGS: language, violence is sometimes the answer 🤭 + FC changed for Mikey due to recent news unfortunately, *GIF DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, not here to argue with anyone that feels different and you’re always welcome to keep imagining JB or simply do not engage with this.

<- read my previous summer anthology prompt here.

࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪

~ARMANDO~

He doesn’t take disrespect lightly.

The both of you lived just fine in your condo out in Miami, although Armando preferred the privacy more than anything he just kept this to the back of his mind that he was going to provide for your dream house together. Having your four year old daughter, Isaura only gave him more drive to get out of here.

The neighbors that lived on the floor directly above you, were all wide smiles and friendly making it their special job to try and introduce themselves to whoever they caught. They found you three at the pool one Sunday evening before dinner. Armando immediately felt they were weird telling you later that night in bed beside you, “they look like they eat people.”

“Armando!” You scolded as you slipped a bonnet on a half sleep Isaura, “they do but maybe they’re just the over friendly type.”

Armando sucked his teeth as he reached around you to snatch the sleepy toddler into his chest, “niña, can you say oblivious? tell mama that’s exactly what she is.”

Isaura just shifted her head looking away from the both of you.

“See, even your own daughter doesn’t want to listen to your mess. Give me my baby back so I can put her down,” you waved your fingers while Armando swings his legs to the edge of the bed.

He shifts the tiny girl against him and shakes his head, “nah, I got it. Got to make sure the fucken weirdos aren’t hiding in her room since you don’t want to believe me.”

“Hey, watch your mouth!” You lecture while Armando rolls his eyes, peeking down to see if Isaura even budged at his foul language before you continued, “I don’t know what goes in your mind sometimes,” you sigh with a shake of your head as Armando makes his way to the door, “…now you know I’m going to be up half the night checking on her.”

“Don’t worry about it, daddy’s gonna take the daybed just in case.”

Frowning you respond, “So you’re just going to abandon me?”

Armando snorts, “there’s enough of me to go around but if you wanna stay hold up in here by yourself, when we have the hills have eyes lurking from the floor above, that’s on you.”

“Bastard.” You muttered just as Armando was about to shut the door.

“What was that, mami?”

“I said I’m getting my neck pillow.” You answered as Armando laughs to himself, leaving the door open just a crack before carrying on down the hallway.

Armando would peep the disrespect more than you would but mostly on separate occasions. First it started with the husband constantly taking Armando’s assigned parking spot with one of his many cars, he would always turn up right when Armando had to circle around to take someone else’s, and when he was face to face with the husband’s false apologies and story about how he had to keep his monster truck locked away in storage thirty minutes away from the building, yet he always decided to take it out when Armando worked late nights…which was pretty convenient if you asked Armando.

Then you would tell Armando how the wife would make…interesting comments about how many more kids you two planned to have. “Hopefully a soccer team with your good looks!” She would laugh as she gripped your wrist. She would also ask: How you two managed to have free time with a four year old and if she was receiving enough attention between the two of you? That last question was off putting because why was this woman worrying about your child? Then if you listened closely enough, around the time it was time for Isaura’s nap or bedtime, whether Mike, Marcus and his family, or your best friend or family were watching her while the both of you were at work, the couple would decide to either start salsa lessons (according to the wife, Amy) which ended up turning into salsa lessons with no clothes directly on the floor, the husband winked at Armando who was not the least bit impressed.

“I think it’s common courtesy that you two learn to keep it down for not only us who have a child…who also has a routine but for your other neighbors as well. I’m sure there’s plenty of classes out in town you two can get into outside of this building.” You hinted to them.

“Oh sorry! I told Kit we were being too loud, see honey?!” She weakly slaps the wannabe WWE star against his buff chest, “We’ll definitely keep everyone more in mind this time, again sorry about that.” Amy apologizes.

“A man has needs though, am I right?” Kit would laugh, clapping his hand down on Armando’s shoulder who peeked at it, wondering why this man was so comfortable touching him.

Armando sniffed, “and you need to have some respect is all that we’re saying. Along with removing your hand from me.”

“Hey now! No need for the animosity, we’re all friends here neighbor!” Kit says as he applies a little more pressure on his hold of Armando’s shoulder but that only causes Armando to darken his stare.

Even Armando knew that statement was fake. Next thing he knows, when he’s heading out to work the morning after, he’s got a broken side mirror on the driver’s side and a large scratch on the passenger door with Kit’s car—that’s usually parked to the right of Armando’s—already gone for the day. Armando doesn’t take long to assess the situation, jaw tight as he looks around the garage for where exactly the cameras are. He would be hacking those as soon as he clocked in and didn’t give a damn who had something to say about it. He ended up calling you on the way to work, thanks to him phoning Dorn to carpool—him and Kelly had a disagreement so she drove to work on her own—to tell you exactly what happened since it was one of those days where you clocked in earlier than he did.

“I’ll try and keep him from doing something stupid.” Dorn calls out to you from the driver’s side.

You whisper as you stepped out briefly from working with a client as an aesthetician, “would you? I know it’ll be hard—

“I’m right here.” Armando reminded, “I’m done dealing with their creepy asses, Kit better hope I don’t see him when I get home tonight because his ass might turn up missing.”

You didn’t even argue because once Armando had something made up in his mind, it was hard for him to ever see another perspective. Also you didn’t doubt that Kit had something to do with it.

The last straw was when Kit and Amy’s German shepherd nipped towards Isaura’s face, when you had a minor confrontation with Amy, who you ran into while out shopping. She tried to sweep over the fact that she admitted to wishing that it was Armando on top of her instead of her actual husband and that it wasn’t a big deal because Kit was doing the same with you. Not only did she fix her mouth to say that, she also said she thought about what a kid would look like with her looks and Armando’s. “There’s nothing wrong with daydreaming.”

She said and it felt like she had spit in your face at how wicked her smile was on her overfilled lips. Again she was too close in your space but once Isaura ripped a cry so loud below along with the sounds of snarling from Amy’s dog, you didn’t hesitate to pull your child up into your arms and to kick at the dog.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Amy yelled pulling on her pet’s leash, “He’s just an animal!”

“An animal who tried to bite my kid’s face off! You’re lucky my foot didn’t connect but next time my fist won’t miss yours.”

“Are you threatening me?!”

“It’s not a threat, It’s a promise.” You concluded, “Stay away from my family if you know what’s good for you.”

“Excuse me? What does that mean?” Amy kept a tight hold on the leash now, “These are the things Kit and I get for being good neighbors?!”

You stopped in your tracks as you turned to give Amy one last look while you cradled a scared Isaura to your chest, “it means exactly what you think it means. Y’all keep saying your good neighbors but is that in the building with us or in your sick delusions? I’m warning you Amy, back the fuck off or you’ll really be sorry.”

Amy sticks her nose up in the air, “my uncle is the best lawyer in the city. If you’re thinking about harming my family then I’ll sue both of you so hard that little Laura will have no choice but to have a new family. Kit and I have been trying for months for a little one and Laura is the cutest thing.”

Laughing you found it hilarious that Amy thought she could continue to try you with her mind games. She really didn’t know who she was fucking with.

“I can guarantee that your uncle doesn’t have shit on my man. Also my father-in-law is a pretty good detective and he’s already heard about you two, just waiting for the word. The difference between you and I, is that I love only one man. And sweetie, it’s no competition when I’ve already won. Now you enjoy the rest of your day…before it expires.” It was your turn to send her a sickeningly charming smile as you spun back on your heels.

Leaving her like a gapping fish, you make your way back to your car, strapping Issy in with another caress to her face, quadruple checking that the dog didn’t do anything to her face and handing Issy one of her toys to cuddle with on the way back home. As you started your engine, you immediately called Armando through the car’s Bluetooth before pulling off from the curb.

It’s game night when there’s a knock on the door. Since Armando is helping Issy with the game piece on the game board, you push off the couch to get the door.

“Oh hi!” You greet, which makes Armando also move to get to his feet.

“We’re your new neighbors on the floor above who just moved in and we wanted to say thanks for the blueberry crumble and bottle of wine you sent our way, you really didn’t have to do that! We just thought it would be the kind thing to find the time to come down and introduce ourselves.” The woman speaks first with her hand held out.

You grasp her hand with a warm smile as you say, “mostly everyone is to themselves here but we got…pretty close with our old neighbors and my boyfriend, Armando and I thought we’d keep the tradition going.”

Armando gives a short wave at the two new faces as he stands beside you now, “hello,” he addresses the two while he bounces a giggly Issy on his hip.

“Aw, she’s so precious! Isn’t she, Steven?” The girl at the door elbows the guy beside her.

You take in her expression carefully, “do you two have any kids?”

She jabbed a thumb at the taller man, “Oh I’ll leave that all to my brother here.”

“I don’t have any…at least no one’s ever told me anything.” He nonchalantly shrugged while he looked off in thought up from his phone, while his sister rolls her eyes at him.

Armando snickers, which makes you quirk up a brow at him.

“Do you guys know where the other tenants moved off to? The agent says it was pretty abrupt but we got a steal on most of their furniture.” The young girl chats.

Armando speaks up, “heard they really wanted to explore more of Europe…guess Miami living inspired them to see what else the world has to offer.”

“Sweet,” Steven nods, “that would be a dream.”

“That is what they say life is,” Armando adds as he sends a quick wink to you while you lightly shake your head at him. He then slips an arm around your waist appearing as a Kodak moment to the siblings outside the door, “but welcome to the neighborhood you two, I’ve got a feelin’ you’ll be good neighbors.”

In short: he eliminates the problem.

~RIO~

He had been away on a business trip when he gets back home earlier than expected. He likes to do this sometimes, liking to surprise you with his pop-in’s—take that how you will. What he wasn’t expecting was his ex sitting in the sitting room with you, the two of you chatting to the right of the home from the foyer over a bottle of tequila.

“…so the hell are you gonna tell lollipop king?”

“Girl, who?”

“You know his name, Christopher!”

You laugh followed by a groan, “he’ll find out sooner than later since old man Stewart and him are practically golfing buddies who act like they don’t gossip.”

Rio used that moment to clear his throat from his leaned position against the doorway. He didn’t like how your guard was down as he just lingered there, you slouched on the couch and Rhea balled up in one of the living chairs but that was another conversation. He needed to know just what you were hiding from him and now.

“Tell me what, mama?” Rio rasped, hands clasped in front of him.

Rhea’s mouth formed into an O-shape, getting ready to collect her things but Rio cuts his eyes at the short haired woman too, “nah, you don’t gotta leave on my account.”

“Believe me I’m not,” Rhea sassed as she collected her square glass and the almost empty bottle, “I’m going to check on our son while you guys—debrief.”

You gasped, “this involves you too, you know?!”

“I don’t live here!”

“Could have fooled me.” Rio adds as Rhea makes her way by him, bumping her shoulder with his.

Rio just snorts as the woman heads across the hall towards the side entrance of the kitchen. When he sets his eyes back on you, he watched as you used one of your hands to pinch in between your brows as you pulled your bottom lip into your mouth. The buzzed haired man then plops down beside you, lolling his head to meet your gaze but you just quickly down the rest of your drink.

“What’s going on?” Rio questions.

You exhale, “oh nothing much, it’s good to see you though!”

“You’re tipsy on a Wednesday afternoon and not on wine…something’s up?” Rio analyzed you pretty quick, which was to be expected.

Exhaling you close your eyes, thinking if maybe you just dozed off then Rio would leave you alone and Rhea would sneak out with Marcus out the back. You knew that was a slim chance since that boy loved his father a lot and would want to see him before heading back home with his mom.

Your eyes were widened as Rio gripped your bandaged hand, making you wince as he did so. You were hoping that he wouldn’t notice but you couldn’t be that much of a fool, not when it came to your husband.

“I’m going to ask only one more time before I start looking for answers myself, so tell me what happened?” Rio quizzes one last time.

Sighing you meet Rio’s eyes as you tell him, “Polly’s mother is visiting and she started shit with Marcus while he was outside playing in the front yard. I was bringing the plants from the garage up front when this all happened but Stewart saw it happening from his window and came out before I got up front. I handled it, she got HOA involved, and now apparently there’s a meeting on Saturday morning.”

The shift in Rio was instant as he sat up, still holding your hand in his lap, “she don’t even live here and she thinks she can say something to the kid? Did she do this to your hand? Give me the details, mama.”

And so you did. You told him how Marcus was running around out front keeping himself entertained while you were dragging the outdoor plants that you thought would look nice in the backyard up front from the garage. It took some time for you to pick up on the yelling, making the palm of your hand get impaled by one of agave leaves that you tossed to the ground at the familiar rebuttal of Marcus’ voice. Your instincts kicked in even if your hand bled like crazy and hurt like hell, you didn’t take kindly to strangers screaming at kids.

You were once an elementary school teacher before becoming a housewife to Rio. There was always a certain way that you needed to speak to people, especially kids and you weren’t having it with Polly’s mother who always visited in the summer. Polly was cool, even her mother-in-law was tolerable (although she was a yapper) but you just didn’t understand how someone like Polly had a mother as nasty as this Karen who was drilling into Marcus who she didn’t even know. In her mind she believed that Marcus specifically shouldn’t be playing around the sidewalk, that it was against the “rules” of this community that she wasn’t sure Marcus even belonged to and should be playing in a different area instead.

You guys had a fence but Marcus said that he hit the ball too far and it ended up on the sidewalk so that’s the only reason he came around the fence. You didn’t care what the reason was, he knew not to play near the street of the gated community but you trusted his word regardless and old man Stewart confirmed this with a nod of his head. He had the both of your back’s and you guys spent the holidays every so often at each other’s houses.

“It got ugly, babe. Told her to keep her finger out my face and to not ever speak to my kid like that again. She tried to chest bump my back so I turned around and shoved her on her ass. She’s lucky I didn’t smack the shit out her wal-mart Glenn Close looking ass. Which was enough ammo for her to call HOA but we’ve got cameras just as much as Polly’s got her ring camera so I’m not worried. I just didn’t want Marcus to deal with that bullshit.”

Rio ends up smiling at you and you widen your eyes at him. “I’m glad you find this amusing.”

“Oh it’s not—I’m just proud of you.”

“For not going to jail?”

Rio tilts his head to the side, “The verdicts probably still out on that one, knowing the kind of woman she is.”

“You’re right.”

“I’ll have to talk to Polly.” Rio decided as he caressed your fingertips.

“She’s already sent mountains of texts, she’s with us and says she’ll work on talking to her demon—I mean mother.” You can’t fight against the liquor but even still, you said what you said.

Rio nods, “you don’t even got to worry about the rest. I got us.”

“…do I want to know?”

“Nah,” Rio shrugged as he used his other hand to caress your face, “just continue being the best thing that happened to me. I know I don’t have to thank you but I want to, for looking at Marcus as your own.”

You laugh, “he’s a great kid, part of you, which makes me love you guys even more so of course I will—without question.”

Rio pulls you by the chin to his lips, which you’ve been missing all week and when he lets you slip your tongue into his mouth, he pulls back with a grin. “Later mama, I got to make sure you two are good first.”

“Huh?” Your eyes fluttered open as Rio holds your own hand up in front of your face to prove his point, “that’s just a scratch.”

“Our girl will be the judge of that.” Rio tells, “Can’t believe you didn’t try and sneak her over here.”

“Thought she was on business with you guys.”

“We got more than one medic, mama. I kept the best here with y’all.”

“How kind.”

“I’m a kind guy.”

“I don’t think the dust bag will think so when you’re finished spooking her.”

Rio doesn’t fight his grin but replies, “Who says I’m gonna do it? I got people for that but the message will be real clear.”

“Rio—

He shushes you as he pecks your lips once more, making you lean your forehead against his, happy that he’s home before he’s sending out a code to your number one medic girl to stop by the house ASAP.

the both of you break away as the thudding of steps decended down the steps, revealing Marcus who called out Rio’s name, who he needed further reassurance from.

“Hey bud,” Rio starts as he embraces the young boy before knocking their fist together, “you good?”

He slowly nods but Rio knows he’s not, although he had a feeling Marcus held his own. It usually took a lot to bring it out of him to defend himself but Rio would see for himself once he looked at the footage tonight.

“You know what? Let’s go play outside while the ladies finish up.” Rio gets to his feet and the slight panic in Marcus’ face is evident, making your heart break while Rhea tightens the folding of her arms.

Rio squeezed Marcus’ shoulder, “hey, when you’re with me you remember you’re the king of your own castle, aight? Nobody can tell you nothing, move how you wanna move and own it. This is your neighborhood too, you understand?”

“…yes dad.”

“Alright? I got goalie.”

Rio sends a firm look to you two ladies before he heads outside with Marcus right beside him.

He attentively analyzed the situation before deciding what else needs to be done. One thing you could never do was go against the family he built and that was always serious to him. Anybody that messed with his family, immediately became his target and if it had to be a part time neighbor from across the street?

So be it.

They’ll learn soon enough.

They always do.

~LUCA~

“Babe! You’re not gonna believe this.” Luca calls out to you as he slams the front entrance door from down below shut, before making his way upstairs.

You can always tell when Luca’s home because he has a tendency to be heavy handed, always slamming the door that it tends to shake the house. It’s not something he purposely does, majority of the time he doesn’t even notice but it is a thing and even your neighbors in the townhouse to the left of you mockingly mentioned it.

They were assholes anyway and should be the last ones to talk about noise. Having loud company over every other day and some type of event at their home every other weekend, also crowding up the streets, without inviting you guys on multiple occasions. There were eight specific units on this street that were all grouped and managed underneath the same property and you would think they would also include you two. The both of you quickly learned that Chicago was much different than Copenhagen.

And what Luca remembered.

“I wouldn’t take it to heart and give it some time, yeah? Otherwise? They can piss right off!” Luca’s older sister that he’s reconnected with while being back in the states tells you two, laughing lightly as she’s helping you two unpack weeks ago.

You wouldn’t have if you didn’t decide to be neighborly, bringing them their mail when it accidentally got mixed in with yours, waving at them in passing as you chatted with the other residents, and then actually going over to introduce yourselves with a platter. It was all fraudulent and they just didn’t want to be bothered with you two, Luca gradually started to forget about it after finding a new position at one of the top three upscale restaurants in the city until you would bring it up. And of course he listened to anything that bothered you.

Their music was too loud for hours at a time sometimes until two in the morning on a week night, Luca would calmly address the situation to the guy of the household when he would get a hold of him on his way in from running around the city in sweats and a hoodie—yes in the middle of a scorching August, the both of you always had early mornings with you being a medical assistant down at the hospital and with Luca always having to do prep. You didn’t have the patience to stick around for the guy and his significant other never came to the door when you both knew she was home probably hungover.

Luca was friendly in his approach about it and at first, the athlete told Luca that they were just celebrating as much as they could before he was back on the road to get in the box yet he couldn’t help but to throw in a jab, “They do have these things called single family homes. Maybe you two should consider that.” In the end he said they’d try to keep it down. That still rubbed you the wrong way when Luca slipped up and told you that part.

Which only meant turning the music up even louder that the house rattled on their end. If their garbage was over filled, they would dump some of it into yours attracting raccoons but would then claim it had to be one of the other neighbors—you two had a ring cam, it wasn’t. The last straw was the fiancée drunkly pissing right in the path of your garage, which you stepped in the next morning when you were running late to work.

Humming you turn your attention from the street view of the balcony to Luca who stood in the doorway. You sat comfortably in the outdoor chair, paperback turned over on the table as you finished sipping at your fruit water.

“Hey baby,” you greet with a smile, relaxed and bare faced on your day off in the summer light as you held your face up for Luca to place a quick kiss to the corner of your mouth before he sat in the chair across from you.

Luca stretched his arms across the table as he greeted you back, “hello darling…you’re not gonna believe this!” He continues.

“What? That you suddenly caved and like Chicago dogs now?” You quizzed, folding your own arms as you leaned against the table, ready to listen.

Luca chuckles, “not likely, babe. Guess I won’t ever fit into their standards, yeah?”

“I think the world will still turn.”

“I think so too,” Luca agrees with a small smirk, “listen to this. I went to the bakery, the one Marcus is working part-time at now because of the whole thing with Carmy’s uncle—just to check on him you know? Guess who was also in there?”

You raise your brows after finding it sweet that Luca made it his mission to check in on Marcus. The two hit it off when Marcus trained underneath him for a couple of weeks back then and he’s been over to the flat a few times along with Sydney. Luca didn’t give you much time to guess since he was so adamant about telling you about his day. Usually when something was on Luca’s mind, his words went haywire out of excitement—depending what it was of course.

“Ryan!”

You blinked at the news of your boyfriend running into your problematic next door neighbor in slight confusion, “okay…a little surprised he likes baked goods since he gives the impression that he drinks egg yolks and eats raw meat for fun.”

It was Luca’s turn to furrow his naturally arched brows, “I’m not quite sure how you’ve gotten that idea and you might want to cut back on your time watching Santa Clarita Diet. It might help.”

You snort as you wave your fingers along for the now buzzed blond to continue. It wouldn’t be the first show that you watched where Luca passed judgment on. He is definitely the one to ask a thousand questions while you’re trying to watch something.

“Ryan told me, Leah was rushed to the hospital yesterday morning.” Luca informs you, “Want to know what for?”

Sitting back against the chair, you keep your arms crossed and fight the urge to roll your eyes, “…not particularly, no.”

Luca bites down on his bottom lip trying to hold it in but doesn’t, “she crapped out a parasite.”

Your mouth drops open, “You’re lying.”

“Honest to flavor town.” Luca does the praying motion before pointing to the sky and you knew it was serious business if he mentioned Guy Fieri.

Clasping a hand against your mouth you try to hide your snickers but Luca picks up on the fact that you found this a little too amusing.

“…what have you done?” He points an accusatory finger at you.

Lifting your shoulders, your lips twist around in laughter and you dared peeked back at Luca who was awaiting your answer. You wouldn’t leave him in the dark much longer, “fine! I sent a cleanse her way after all that day drinking and with my medical knowledge…I thought I’d give a helping hand.”

“Which means what?” Luca pressed, sitting back as well as he listened to you.

“I may have or may not have used the papayas that Grace left here before she went back to Texas when we went to that farmer’s market,” you slowly admit of your time with your old friend who came to visit with her baby girl Charlie, informing your boyfriend of the slight clues, “we both know I’m allergic and I didn’t want them to go to waste. So I made our lovely neighbors some papaya cereal with the seeds, put it up real nice in a jar for them to enjoy. Left it by their door and watched Ryan bring the bait in.”

Luca exhales, “you’re actually starting to scare me.”

“Remember that old nutritionist who’s heavily spiritual I told you about that we always end up seeing once a month at the hospital?” You ask while Luca nods his head, “she experienced the same thing partygirlLeah99 did but her’s was intentional.”

The bomb that you dropped had Luca clenching his eyes shut, “what you’re telling me is…you basically gave our neighbor some form of a laxative?”

“Just removed the toxins and clearly Leah has some. How many parasites was it?”

Luca shook his head, “no, no, no. We’re not just going to skip over the chaotic evil you’ve just done.”

You tilted your head to the side, “I think it was more lawful evil…maybe even good. She pissed on our property, Luca! And Ryan’s a dick.”

Luca holds his forehead now stressed, “Yeah and he can K.O. us if he really wanted to if he ever found out! He’s a professional boxer—

“I don’t care! Lessons need to be taught and he’s out of here in the fall anyway so that’s one less problem we have to deal with.” You shrug as you reach for your water again but Luca snatched it back.

He sighs, “we talked about this…you can’t just go and take matters into your own hands without discussing it with me first. I said I would talk to them about the peeing situation—

“You tried talking to them before! They don’t care about us, and sure they don’t owe us anything but I worked really hard on that charcuterie board, then they excluded us constantly and probably will do it again once Halloween comes around—

“So that’s what this is about? You’re worried about Halloween?” Luca questions, knowing it was one of your favorite Halloween parties.

“How dare they throw a summerween party when I’m the number one queen of the spooks!” You childishly turn your head to peek out into Chicago’s scenery from your first balcony.

Luca sips at your water now and exaggerates as he lets out an, “ah! That’s refreshing but I don’t know what to say about my girlfriend being upset over some people that we don’t even know well enough to care about their perceptions of us, if they even have any.”

Both of your professions caused you to be around all sorts of people, especially some downright mean ones but you both persevered. Luca would always take it as a learning curve, whereas you tended to take things more personal majority of the time. Yes you were the type to cry when angry, go ahead and sue your sensitive heart! Luca was only a little older than you and slightly better at communicating—when he wasn’t a nervous wreck—but you on the other hand tended to proceed with action rather than words or a conversation like Luca.

“Don’t say anything to me, just love me, choose me,” you playfully recite while Luca scoffs, “and wish those bitches an early happy Halloween, specifically from me to them. What she won’t know what hurt her.” You wink while Luca runs a hand over his buzzed summer look in shock.

“Well it actually did,” Luca frowns with his hands held out although you’re still unphased, “and doesn’t this count as assault?”

There goes the panic everybody!

You knew a good lawyer that shared the same blood as Luca (if it ever came to that) you weren’t worried and maybe you were chaotic evil after all? Depends who you ask.

Pouting you say, “Did she die?”

“No!”

“Then everybody wins!” You clap as you push back from the table, “So…What’s for dinner?”

“Not fucking papayas that’s for sure.” Luca states while you laugh, beginning to collect your things to bring back inside.

Luca sits outside for a moment longer, you briefly kiss his lips, him shaking his head at you afterwards once more as he whacks your backside before you head in to search the fridge, and he stares out into the city just wondering what else this place will bring.

Hopefully better understanding of being neighbors in the states!

MIKEY

“The hell happened to you?” Mikey asks, sneaking up behind you in your kitchen.

Which wasn’t unfamiliar for him to do but you did let out a yelp as you stood by your coffee and tea counter. You turned to your old friend, who scanned his eyes all over your filth covered clothes.

“My neighbor Lorraine is mad that I called her son out for being a pervert. Then she tried to argue that my dog is barking at all times of the night so I don’t have the right to speak on her son!” You paced the floor.

Mikey crosses his arms, “well she isn’t too bright because that thing in there is far from a dog,” he starts while you give him the side eye for talking shit about your Maine coon, “and what’s this about a pervert?”

You sigh, “..her son is just this college dropout who’s apparently into astronomy and thinks I don’t catch him with his telescope set out on the front sidewalk, right where the living room window is, as if he’s gone camping with my body being the view!”

It wouldn’t be Mikey’s first time catching you streaking around the house either—that was your fault for giving him a key—but this random kid? He had a problem with.

Mikey rubs at his facial hair, “Was he the one that did this to you?”

You huff, “that little bitch ran as soon as mommy Lorraine thought it would be nice to dump her trash on me out in the courtyard.”

There was always something going on in your courtyard out back, whether it was random cookouts even in the winter!, residents fighting over which outdoor seating technically belonged to them (it didn’t belong to anyone, everybody at the condo had access to it), to Lorraine overpopulating the backyard with her garden and horrible smelling manure, and fires being started by the little kids for fun, Mikey can never say it’s a dull moment on Sunnyside Ave.

“…and what did you do?” Mikey questioned, his lips twisting at the corners, knowing he wasn’t the best influence, especially if the shoe was on the other foot.

Which you knew, hanging out with him, Richie, and even Michelle always had the potential go left very quickly.

“There’s onion juice or some shit in my eye,” you start using your wrist to wipe at your red eye before saying, “and if I somehow end up blind before I get in to my eye doctor this year…it’s a wrap for her.”

“So you’re going in for the silent kill?” Michael summarizes, “that leaves the creeper to me then, is he home? I’d love to have a talk with ‘em!”

He points towards the back door which leads out to the courtyard. You leap forward, latching onto Michael’s wrist, “which I’m sure you’ll get your chance but I see you bought something for me?”

Michael rolls his eyes as he glanced back at the counter that contained a bag, “you’re real observant aren’t ya?”

“I’m also hungry but I need to get this stench off me first.” You slap your hands beside your thighs.

He jokingly steps forward to take a whiff towards you, “…I wasn’t going to say anything but whew!”

“Shut up, Mikey!” You shove him back but he just laughs.

Mikey pinches a piece of your hair on your way by, pulling something from it, “looks like she got you good with some shallot skin and soil if you ask me! But I got a nice Cubano waiting for ya when you get out.”

Your mouth watered at the mention of your favorite sandwich Mikey always brought over to you every other Tuesday, “can’t wait for that baby to bring me the biggest serotonin.”

Mikey grins at you.

When you drag your eyes back to meet his you ask, “so how was your day, bub? Good?”

“Yeah! I think it’s going to be alright.”

You hold your hand out, “tell me about it?”

He takes your hand as you lead him to the bathroom. He sits on the toilet as you quickly get into your skincare, terrified of skin mites thanks to some shit Sugar sent to a group chat between you, her, and Michelle. Michael doesn’t mind watching you do your routine, falling into quiet chatter before you strip out of your clothes.

He tries not to let his stare linger but he always thought you were a goddess, even with your clothes on. The comfortability between you two was strong, that at times it felt like there was nothing to ever be afraid of, especially when it came to showing your most vulnerable selves to each other. It’s not long before he’s joining you behind the shower liner, helping each other clean away whatever the day held before you’re embracing each other, arms tucked underneath each others as your now loud conversation fights against the pressure from the shower head.

He tells you all about the possible new hire, her name being Tina and how he feels like she’ll be the one to keep Chicagoland on their toes and in shape. He’s got that spark in his eye when he talks about her, finding a connection and in hopes that she will turn up when she’s ready but he has no doubt that she will.

“Maybe you can call her for backup if you ever come face to face with string bean nose Lorraine.” Mikey jokes over the water.

You scoff, “if the garbage can actually hit me, Lorraine just might need to tap Tina in for her to get me off her ass!”

Mikey chuckles, leaning forward to place a kiss on your forehead before you tuck your head underneath his chin. If you could’ve, you would have held onto him for eternity.

But…that’s not the way life played out in later episodes.

When Tuesday’s hit, sometimes it still feels like he’s here around your condo trying to scare the shit out of your cat, when he’s the one who’s actually terrified of him. And when you catch yourself staring at Lorraine’s nose a little too long during your small morning chats before you’re both leaving for work—that’s right—you two are now cordial enough to have civilized conversations, and yes you had Michael Berzatto to thank for that.

For constantly seeing the best in everybody, even crazy gardening neighbors who loved composting and believing their son could do no wrong.

Who only knows what Mikey’s conversation with that kid was like. You had a feeling that Richie knew, there was a slim chance that Richie was his ride along when you were off at work or someplace else but Richie would always be Mikey’s keeper.

And you were fine with that, as long as you never saw a telescope again.

ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪ ִֶָ☾. ࣪

SUMMER ‘24 PROMPTS FIN. (For now!)

[quack-quack-snacks]

Sleepy

My Navigation and Masterlist

Pairing(s): Gwi-nam x Fem!Reader Author's Note: For the sake of fanfiction - and this applies to all of my aouad stories unless stated otherwise - we shall make it so that Gwi-nam never sexually assaulted/harassed Eun-ji and neither did his friend group because what they did WAS SA/SH and I feel like so many people gloss over that fact. They have never SA/SH anyone and are just regular bullies who just harass and beat people up normally.  Summary: Even turning into a zombie won't stop Gwi-nam from getting back to you before you wake up. Warnings: Normal AOUAD gore and violence, Gwi-nam pushing that girl to her death in the kitchen scene, I think that's it but lmk if there's any more you can find! Word Count: 6,106

Lunch.

One of your favorite parts of the day, because everybody is too preoccupied with their food and their friends to look at you. You always sat alone at your table, right in the middle of the lunch room. You had a great view of everybody around you from here. People-watching became something you were used to doing. 

You didn’t really have any real friends, only ones you would talk to occasionally in the halls and at the beginning of classes. You never would actually text them outside of class, and the conversations would dull after the topic of school stopped, but you liked them nonetheless. You were more of an introvert anyways so not requiring yourself to make friends outside of school was nice. No requirements or plans to attend. There was really only one person who you would actually consider your friend; the only person you would willingly get out of bed to hang out with. 

And he was currently throwing pieces of broccoli at the back of your head.

Yoon Gwi-nam. The school bully’s gopher and, unfortunately, your best friend. You’d been his friend since 7th grade before he joined the group of the bad and left you alone. You weren’t too upset since he still hung out with you outside of school and showed you his friendly affection in other ways - such as with the broccoli bits that were tangled in your hair at the moment - but it got lonely at times. You also knew he only was in their group because of how you’d gotten bullied at the beginning of freshman year and he stood up for you. From there, he also got bullied until one day it just… stopped. For the both of you. The next time you saw him, he was smirking with an arm wrapped around Myeong-hwan’s shoulder as the boy berated a timid-looking girl who had tears running down her cheeks. 

He’d explained everything after school when you’d been ignoring him and you reluctantly agreed to his actions, knowing he was doing it for your benefit as much as, if not more than, his. You didn’t like it, but you weren’t sure of any way to stop him after he’d already dug himself too deep. 

Another broccoli piece hit your head and you leaned your head down to hide your face and your smile. To everyone, you just looked like another one of Gwi-nam and Myeong-hwan’s victims but this wasn’t bullying. This was something you had been doing since the both of you were in seventh grade. It was a test to see how long you could go without getting annoyed and if it lasted more than 10 minutes then you got a beautiful reward of a nice, crisp 5 dollar bill. If you lost, you had to lose said nice, crisp 5 dollar bill. 

The constant hitting was getting on your nerves and you prepared yourself to lose $5 just until you saw students. They were acting weird, crowding around the glass wall leading to the outdoors and screaming. They banged on the door until it broke and everyone fell to the ground in a pile. You stood up to rush forward to help them but stopped halfway across the room when you saw blood.

They were… eating each other.

You stood there paralyzed as you watched and couldn’t move even as one of them started rushing towards you. Just as the bloodied student got within a foot of your face, it was suddenly launched backward by a familiar sneaker.

“Are you okay?” You heard Gwi-nam ask you and scream your name but you just stared in shock at the body that contorted on the floor before it shot back up and roared. Just as it started to charge at you, Gwi-nam yanked you as he grabbed a lunch tray and slammed it across the beast’s face. It fell to the ground and Gwi-nam grabbed your hand to drag you away from the swarm. The sprinklers had turned on from the kitchen catching on fire and suddenly everything was slippery and you could barely keep your footing.

Correction, you couldn’t keep your footing. You slipped to the ground and Gwi-nam’s hand fell from your own when he was tackled by a zombie. He only barely was able to grab another lunch tray and stick it between the beast’s teeth before it could bite him. You quickly stood up and kicked the zombie off of him, slipping while trying to lift Gwi-nam and running hand in hand towards the closing doors of the kitchen. You crouched down and ducked under the metal table before any of the ones in the room could see you. Quickly after, you were joined by two others, a boy and a girl. 

“Get out! No!” Gwi-nam whisper-yelled as he tried to force them back out but you just pulled his hands away from the boy’s hair. 

“Gwi-nam stop! They’ll hear us! Just let them in,” you whispered to him and he rolled his eyes but knew you were right. As everyone piled in, you almost yelped when your legs got pushed out into the walkway but held your hand over your mouth as you pulled your legs back in, holding your breath as you waited to see if any zombie had seen you. Luckily they hadn’t. 

Gwi-nam cursed and glared at the boy who had unintentionally, or maybe intentionally, pushed your leg out. He grabbed you by the waist, pulling you in between his legs so you were laying against his chest to make room for the two as you curled in on yourself. You were too much in shock to think about the crush you’d been harboring for him for years as the first of many tears started to fall down your cheek. A small and almost inaudible whimper escaped your lips but Gwi-nam heard it and quickly used one of his hands to cover your mouth while the other wrapped around your waist and pulled your back further into his chest as he rocked you slightly. No other sounds left you but the tears continued to fall. 

The girl across from you wasn’t as lucky. She whimpered loudly as she cried and you reached out to take her hand, trying to get her to calm down but she just cried louder. 

Gwi-nam let go of your mouth and waist to reach forward and wrap his hands around her face to cover her mouth. “Shh! Shut the fuck up!” He gritted out through his teeth quietly. His head snapped up when he heard snarling before making the quick decision to just kick her out from under the table. She screamed, attracting all of the zombies’ attention and she tried to get up and run away but they got her. You covered your mouth as your breathing quickened and clenched your eyes tightly together. Gwi-nam pulled you into his chest and your head rested in the crook of his neck. The water from the sprinklers was still dripping down the sides of the table the three of you hid under. Your clothes and hair were soaked completely and so were Gwi-nam’s. More tears fell from your eyes and you clinged to his shirt tightly. 

“Go get it,” you heard the boy from above tell the boy across from the two of you. 

“No. I won't,” he protested, whimpering when he saw the glare on his face grow. 

“You stupid little…” Gwi-nam reached forward to grab onto his hair and yanked it. 

“Stop. Please!” He begged. “Just send her! She’s crying just like the other girl was!” He suggested, thinking he was giving a good solution. 

Gwi-nam didn’t speak for a second and you heard the boy let out a sigh of relief when his hair was released. “You know what, you’re right,” you heard him say and your body tensed. He wasn’t actually going to send you out there, was he? “She is crying.”

You forced your body to relax, accepting whatever would happen to you next but tensed back up in surprise when Gwi-nam kicked the boy out into the open. 

“But she’s important.”

The boy quietly started crying when he saw the zombies running towards him and latching onto his leg. He grabbed onto your leg, pulling you with him as he begged for help. 

“Please, help!” He dragged you out from under the table and you had to bite your tongue to keep from screaming as you desperately kicked at his hands. Gwi-nam came up from behind you and dragged you away, helping you to your feet before moving the both of you to dodge a zombie approaching him from behind. He quickly pushed you down so you were climbing through the space under the metal table before following closely behind and moving out of the way just as you put another, smaller, table in between the space of the two of you and the zombie. It just barely stopped the zombie from underneath, who you realized was the girl Gwi-nam had kicked out from under the table, from biting the two of you as she reached desperately but to no avail. As the two of you took a deep breath of relief from the zombie being out of reach, you quickly tugged Gwi-nam away by the sleeve after seeing another zombie approaching from the right and pushed a moving cart in front of the undead boy, causing him to fall over and scramble to get up. You both backed up and you heard someone trying to get your attention from beside you. 

“Hey, kids. Down here. Come quick!” The older lunch lady told you and motioned for you to join her under the countertop. You let out a breath of relief as you moved towards her but it faltered when you saw the zombie you knocked over with the cart get up and rush towards you. Gwi-nam quickly grabbed your wrist and moved you out of the way as he grabbed the woman’s outreached hand and pulled her in front of him just as the zombie latched its teeth onto her neck. Her screams echoed through the small room and you let out a shaky breath as he pushed both the woman and the zombie away before rushing forward, your hands still interlocked, and trying to get to the other side of the kitchen. He stopped short and turned around to go the other direction when he saw the boy who suggested throwing you to the zombies contort his body in odd ways before getting up and scrambling towards you. Another zombie ran towards Gwi-nam but he stopped just short to avoid being the next victim of the virus, pulling you away from the zombie boy sneaking up on you from behind. Gwi-nam bent down suddenly and grabbed a knife, holding it out in front of him as he pushed you behind him and into a corner. Feeling useless, you looked around for something, anything, to help and luckily saw a butcher’s knife laying on a cutting board where lettuce pieces were scattered around on. As Gwi-nam was looking at one of the zombies on the other side of the room, the girl trapped underneath the metal table had escaped and jumped towards him before you grabbed her hair to yank her back, slashing her across the neck and getting blood scattered across your hand and face. You didn’t have any time to be disgusted or wipe yourself off when the lunch lady came up to you, now zombified, and tried to pull your arm into her mouth only for you to slash her across the face with your knife and then again across her throat, successfully making her drop to the floor in a lifeless heap. You looked over just in time to see the boy who turned the lunch lady into a zombie charge for Gwi-nam only to be thrown to the ground after he stabbed him through the neck with his own knife. Hastily, the two of you killed off the remaining zombies in the room together and breathed heavily after you finished. 

You walked over to the sink and grabbed a paper towel from a roll to your left before wetting it and wiping down your face before turning to Gwi-nam and walking over to him. It wasn’t a lot, but he had blood drops scattered along his face so you gently reached up to wipe them away and he just watched you in silence with an unknown look in his eyes as you did. 

Once you were done, you let your hand fall to your side and dropped the wipe to the side with a heavy sigh. The sound of creaking was heard to the side and the both of you looked over in fear as the gate protecting you from the horde of zombies surrounding the kitchen started to break in some areas. “We should go. I don’t think that will hold them for much longer. Especially since they know we’re in here and probably won’t back down anytime soon,” you told him and he nodded in agreement. He looked around before setting his eyes on the window of the room and pointing to it. 

“There. We can use that to leave. We definitely can’t use the kitchen entrance so I think this will be the best option,” he explained and you hummed in agreement as you both walked up to it. You saw a lever to the side and quickly unlatched it before pushing the window open and looking around outside to see if there was anything, or anyone, out there that would put either of you at risk. The sun was going down and it was harder to see but you looked over and saw a small alleyway that appeared to be empty. You quickly jumped up onto the windowsill and Gwi-nam frantically put his hands on your waist to stop you from falling, which you let out a small laugh at. You sent him a look behind your shoulder and he rolled his eyes before playfully pretending to push you forward which you flinched at but then let out a small laugh. Jumping down onto the other side of the window, you kept watch as Gwi-nam helped himself get over the sill to hop down beside you. The both of you snuck behind the alleyway and peeked behind the wall to look for any escape. By that point,  the sun had faded behind the horizon and the world was encased in darkness besides the lights that automatically turned on from the school’s lampposts. Looking around, you noticed a bike. Without looking, you lightly tapped Gwi-nam on the chest to get his attention and pointed at it. 

“Fuck, luck us,” he exclaimed quietly and looked around to see how much of a risk the path to the bike was. “All we need to do is get to the bike.”

Grabbing your hand in one of his and his knife in the other, he quickly set a path to there. You noticed zombies had realized your appearance and tried to tug him back but it was too late. Letting go of his hand, you grabbed an oncoming zombie by the shoulders and threw it to the ground behind you, helping Gwi-nam up from where he’d fallen. You both sprinted to the vehicle and you grabbed both Gwi-nam and your own knives while he hastily got on the bike, trying to get it started and going quick enough for you to jump on so the two of you could go. Unfortunately, as he started ascending the bike, the two of you noticed the chain was broken and you cursed at your luck. 

Not so lucky after all. 

Abandoning the bike, the two of you jumped off and made a run for the school’s front entrance. The bike had slowed down the zombies behind you but the ones in front of you were still a risk and you had to stab one to stop it from getting too close. You gave Gwi-nam his knife back after you two had successfully made it back into the building and closed the glass doors behind you. Letting out an exasperated groan, you yanked Gwi-nam’s hand and pulled him along as you saw more zombies chasing after you, these ones inside of the building with you. You both ran around through the corridors, getting cornered by zombies but luckily finding an open door. 

The principal’s office.

You both ran in and Gwi-nam slammed the door shut behind him. You turned around just in time for a zombie to lunge at you and you shoved its chest hard so it fell backwards. Gwi-nam grabbed one that was creeping up behind you and stabbed it a few times through the neck before throwing it over the principal’s desk where you heard it twitching and groaning before going silent. While he dealt with the another one, you handled the other two and the two of you cleared the room with great amounts of exerted effort. 

You bent forward and rested your hands on your knees as you took deep breaths in to try and regulate your breathing. “Fuck. What the fuck. This is so fucked up,” you rambled under your breath and was Gwi-nam carelessly threw his knife down onto the coffee table before resting his hands above his head to try and regulate his own breathing. 

“I hate this fucking school,” he complained and unceremoniously plopped down onto one of the soft chairs in the room. Walking over, you plopped down onto the one next to him and sighed. 

“Let’s just go to sleep for a bit, we’re both too fucking tired to think properly, let alone fight anymore. Maybe tomorrow we can try to find another way out,” you reached over to where a modern rotary phone resided and tried dialing 119 but the dead dial tone playing through showed you that it was either broken or the calling services no longer worked. You sighed in exhaustion before falling to the side and resting your head on the arm rest of the chair. You could feel Gwi-nam’s eyes on you but didn’t bother looking up at him as your eyes fell heavily closed and your breathing seemed to even out on its own. The soft hand that fell onto your hair and gently caressed it away from your face didn’t help in keeping you awake and you felt your consciousness slipping through your fingers like sand at the beach. 

The next morning, Gwi-nam woke with a start as he felt tapping on his arm and turned to see the one and only principal next to him. His hand fell away from where it limply rested atop your head and you let out a small groan of protest in your sleep which he would have thought was adorable if he wasn’t just rudely awoken by one of the last people he wanted to see. “Hey. You're Gwi-nam, right?” The principal asked him while he looked around nervously.

“What? Why?”

“How is it outside? Still the same?” He pestered and Gwi-nam groaned as he realized the situation he was still in, turning over in his seat to try and go back to sleep, now knowing neither you nor him were in any danger. 

“You can drive a car, right?” The principal asked him and he just looked up at him before shaking his head lightly. 

“I can't,” he denied. 

“Come on!” The principal complained. “I had to cover up your mess last year when you guys drove your dad's car and caused an accident!” Gwi-nam just looked around in slight embarrassment before looking back up at him questioningly. 

“Why do you ask?”

The principal reached into his pocket and retrieved a keychain with his car keys attached. “Here's my car key. It's in the parking lot. License plate, 7340,” he turned to go to his desk, opening a drawer and retrieving something from there before closing it loudly. Gwi-nam’s head snapped over to where you were still laying asleep and breathed out a sigh of relief when you didn’t even stir. “Bring it here,” the man walked over with a new pair of fresh socks in his hand and sat down on the couch beside you to put them on. 

Gwi-nam slowly sat up and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “Why?” He questioned. 

“Go to the night duty room and out the window, it's in the lot.”

Gwi-nam groaned, realizing what he was being asked to do and layed back in the chair with his feet resting on the coffee table. His head laid against the back of the cushion and his hand returned to resting on top of your head, lazily scratching your head with his fingertips. “No way.”

“You punk. Listen to your principal at once!” The man arrogantly ordered him but Gwi-nam just sat back up and looked at him in annoyance while he defied him. 

“I said no,” his eyes looked over at his knife just as the principal’s did too and they both reached forward for the object at the same time. The principal was quicker and grabbed onto it, holding it out in front of him awkwardly but threateningly. 

“Give me that,” Gwi-nam demanded before grabbing onto the principal’s wrist and wrestling him for it. “Give me that!”

“You punk!”

“I said to let go!” Gwi-nam raised his voice as he finally got the principal to let go and looked down at you briefly only to see you still sleeping peacefully on the chair. “Damn it,” he sighed quietly and waved the knife back and forth as he looked back at the principal who looked terrified. 

“Fine. Just get out of here.”

“Go with me.” Gwi-nam insisted but the man shook his head in rebuttal. 

“Why should I? You go.”

“Go with me to the car. It'd be nice to have a shield, anyway,” Gwi-nam told him while gesturing to the older man’s body as he explained the purpose he would be using him for. 

“What's wrong with you? Stay away!” The principal picked up a plant pot from beside him and held it above his head as if he was going to throw it. 

“My god. Look at you,” Gwi-nam degraded and rolled his eyes at how pathetic he looked. “All right, Mr. Principal. If this were a game, I'd be… happy to kill you… sir.”

“Stop! Stay away!” The older man begged after Gwi-nam took a step forward, his voice raising. “Why don’t you just take her!” He pointed down to where you were still sleeping peacefully, undisturbed by the loud noises coming from above around you and Gwi-nam hosted a smile for a moment before turning back to glare at his so-called principal. 

“God, why does everything suggest that?” He took another threatening step forward. “Is it so fucking hard to see that she’s important to me? I guess everyone is just too fucking dense to see it.” The principal looked worried for his own safety and suddenly Gwi-nam had wrestled him down so he was pressed against the coffee table with his chest down. “And keep it down, would you? She may be a fucking deep sleeper but anyone would wake up with a voice annoying as yours blaring in their ears.”

Suddenly, the door burst open and a familiar face popped in. 

Cheong-san looked back and forth between the two of them, his eyes falling on the sleeping girl on the couch before training back on where Gwi-nam had the principal restrained against the table. 

“Is that the principal?” He questioned, confused.

“Get this jerk off my back!” The older man protested and begged. “Get this psychopath!”

“Shh! I told you to shut the fuck up, didn’t I?” Gwi-nam grabbed his collar roughly to stop him from talking.

“What the hell, Gwi-nam?” Cheong-san asked the bully only to receive no answer but a demand instead. 

“Cheong-san. Come here and tie his arms. The bastard won't stay still.”

“Hey. What are you doing?” He questioned with his eyes blown wide in shock.

“Come and tie him up,” Gwi-nam tried again. 

“You're finished. Do you hear me? I'm expelling you! Untie me now!” The principal yelled only for Gwi-nam to shush him again and press his knife against his throat.

“Gwi-nam! Stop that!”

“Stop what? This fucking guy…” he stood up, pointing towards the helpless and pathetic man on the table before pointing the knife towards himself. “Tried to kill me. He said to go out and get his car!” He then switched the knife to his other hand and pointed his now knife free hand towards you. “And he tried to make me use her as a shield!” Gwi-nam leaned back down over the principal and pressed the knife onto his neck again. “You call yourself a principal.”

He suddenly got off of the principal and hid the knife behind his back as he saw Cheong-san bring out a phone from his pocket and start recording him.

“That's right. Good idea!” The principal praised Cheong-san’s quick thinking.

“I'm filming everything,” the boy explained. “Let go, or I'm gonna send this to the police immediately.”

“You little… I will kill you,” Gwi-nam threatened. 

“Just stop acting like human garbage. No one respects you just because you act tough.”

“I'm the new boss of this school,” Gwi-nam explained to him like it was obvious. “Don't you get it?”

“Don't make me laugh. You're just a fucking loser who will serve bullies for his entire life,” Cheong-san spat at him and Gwi-nam’s face fell to a much more intimidating and annoyed one. He let his arms fall from behind his back, the knife no longer hidden from the camera. 

“Yeah? Say that again,” Gwi-nam dared him but turned around after the principal had maneuvered himself off the table so he was near you, his leg pumped into yours and you stirred faintly which caused Gwi-nam to rush forward, slicing the side of the principal’s neck where he fell to the floor and bled out. 

He walked towards Cheong-san who lowered the phone down in shock after seeing what he just witnessed. “You fucking…” Cheong-san couldn’t finish his sentence because of his shock as Gwi-nam walked towards him slowly, wiping the blood from his knife into his red-stained white button up shirt. 

“So am I… still a loser? Are you with me or not? The phone,” Gwi-nam stuck his hand out as he demanded him to give him the phone with the video on it. 

“You just murder-”

“Give me the phone!”

Gwi-nam lunged forward, trying to slash at Cheong-san who narrowly avoided his attack. The two ran around each other and scuffled for a bit before Cheong-san got ahead and ran out of the room with the cell phone in his possession. The zombies in the hall followed after him and Gwi-nam ran after him before turning back to look at you where you were still sleeping. It amazed him how heavy of a sleeper you were, not waking up even after all of that chaos. He rushed forward, giving you a sweet kiss on your forehead before silently promising you he would be back, running out the door and softly closing it behind him before chasing after Cheong-san. 

Soon enough, the two ended up in the library. After seeing Cheong-san getting mauled off of the top of a bookshelf, Gwi-nam jumped on top of the bookshelf and yanked the shirt of the boy who pushed him off, successfully returning the favor and causing the zombies to lunge for the fallen boy. Gwi-nam chased after Cheong-san, both boys avoiding zombies whenever they came into near contact with them. The latter had jumped up onto a bookshelf but was stopped when a couple of zombies had tried to pull his leg down so he would fall. He managed to kick them off him and got onto the bookshelf but one followed him up. It miscalculated its jump and slammed into the light, bringing it down with it as it fell to the ground. Cheong-san had no time to breathe in relief as he saw Gwi-nam appear on top of another bookshelf and jump after him. They both scrambled after and away from each other, now crouching next to each other only separated by the gap of the two bookshelves and the zombies below. 

“Cut it out,” Cheong-san grit out while both of them breathed heavily.

“Give me the fucking phone,” Gwi-nam demanded and held out his hand, waiting impatiently. He was desperate to get back to you, desperate to just hold you again and finally be able to say what he’d been too much of a coward to for the past three years. Now might as well be the perfect time. 

“You killed the principal. You're a murderer.”

“You made me kill him, you shit!” Gwi-nam hissed. “You wanted proof I wasn't a coward.”

“You're insane.”

Gwi-nam slowly stood up, ready to fight and Cheong-san followed his lead. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Cheong-san dashed in the other direction. Gwi-nam followed and lunged for the boy’s legs, knocking him down so he hit his head on the top of a bookshelf before falling to the floor where zombies quickly followed after and tried to take a bite of his flesh. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you asked, Cheong-san managed to get back up on a bookshelf only to find Gwi-nam already there. He kicked him in the stomach only to have ended up landing on his back with Cheong-san on top of him, trying to stop all of his attacks. The bookshelf rattled from the two’s fighting and from the zombies below trying to knock them over. 

Gwi-nam noticed the pulling the zombies had been doing to the bottom of his pant leg and screamed at them, “Get off me!”

Just as he managed to get the zombies off and stood up, Cheong-san pulled down the light above them and slammed it against Gwi-nam’s back. An act that seemed to have no effect. The boy grabbed Cheong-san and slammed him down against the bookshelf before forcing his head over the edge and making it so he was dangling above the zombies who reached up and tried to grab at his hair. 

“Should I save you?” Gwi-nam taunted. “What do you say? Beg for your life. Come on.”

“Screw you,” the other boy refused and Gwi-nam pulled his head up to punch him a few times, succeeding in knocking him out before searching his pants for the phone. 

Just as he found it and tried to search for the photos app, Cheong-san woke up again and hit the phone out of his reach, just barely managing to catch it in his other hand above the zombie horde who reached endlessly for a bit of his flesh. Gwi-nam angrily resorted to choking him to try and get him to either pass out again or to reluctantly give him the phone.

Neither of which happened.

Gwi-nam screamed and whimpered in agony as he found himself with the edge of the phone lodged in his eyes, screaming even more as he then found himself being pushed off of the bookshelf and into the void of death below. 

He fought for a way out, pushing the zombies away but only ending up to where he was laying against the top of a table and the zombies piled on top of him. He reached out for Cheong-san, now begging for his own life in an act of life’s cruel irony. “Damn it! Shit! Help me! Cheong-san! Fuck! Oh, please!” He begged and begged but Cheong-san only looked down at him before looking away, trying to plan for his escape. Gwi-nam cursed him silently, vowing to end his life and not let him get away with this.

“I'll kill you. I will kill you. Fuck you,” He cursed him in his head. “I'll…”

He stopped moving all together as his body gave in to the call of death, only leaving one last thought as he left the land of the living. 

You.

Less than an hour later, Gwi-nam awoke in the same spot on the table, confused and scared as zombies still surrounded him. He looked down and pinch lightly at where he saw a bite mark had appeared on his stomach. “Oh, shit. Did I die? Am I dead?”

Suddenly zombies came running towards him after hearing the noise. He gasped and flinched back as he prepared himself to be attacked again only for the zombie to stop short after smelling him. More followed but none attacked him. They all just turned away like there was nobody there. 

“Hey!” He experimented after the zombies turned around, looking for their next prey. They all turned back to him but turned back around after not smelling fresh meat. 

A small smirk started to cover his face as he started to realize what was happening. “Aren't you gonna eat me, you zombie bastards?”

When they all growled but made no move to attack him. He let out a confused laugh before deciding to stand up, still cautious of the zombies surrounding him. When none of them tried to go after him, the fear he harbored started to dim and he gained more confidence with every step. He walked up to where a cracked mirror was and took slow steps as the memory of Cheong-san stabbing him with the edge of the phone refilled his mind. He slowly touched his eye, wincing when it stung a tiny bit but much less than he expected it to. 

“Cheong-san, you son of a bitch! I'll kill you,” he vowed before his one good eye widened in realization. “Fuck!” 

He started panicking as he thought about you being all alone before realizing he had closed the door and you were safely inside, probably still asleep from how deep of a sleeper you were. He calmed down and walked around, finding a ONE HEART club jacket and putting it on after taking off his blood-stained white button-up. 

“What the fuck?” He sighed as he put the jacket on and zipped it up. “That means…” He paused as he looked around at the zombies who were growling and running into the walls around him. “I'm God.”

He rolled his eyes at the zombies before making his way back towards the principal’s office. He opened the door quickly and entered the room before any zombies could follow up behind him. He walked over and saw you in the same position he had left you in with your head resting on the arm rest and your legs curled up. He let out a small and quiet laugh as he walked over, making sure to be quiet as he gently lifted you from the couch and gathered you in his arms so you were sitting on his lap with your head resting against the curve of his neck. You let out a small groan of protest as your eyes fluttered open slightly. 

“Gwi-nam?” You whispered out in confusion and tried to lift your head but he just gently pushed you back into his chest which you followed without any more complaint. “Where’d you go?” You asked, your words mumbling together and he cursed himself for you waking up while he was absent. 

“I just had to deal with some things, but I’m back now.”

“You should’ve woken me up,” you scolded him lightly while wrapping your arms around his torso. 

“But then you would’ve been awake and I would’ve had to listen to your dumbass scolding me,” he teased lightly and you lightly slapped the back of his arm from where you were holding him. 

“Jerk.”

He smiled softly and leaned his head on top of your own, his cheek pressed to your crown, waiting for you to go back to sleep. He wasn’t satisfied until he heard your breathing even out once more. Lifting his head up, he looked down at you with a soft gaze as you breathed in deep breaths through your nose. Every exhale would softly blow against his neck but he didn't care. He tried to suppress his emotions but couldn’t stop the love bubbling underneath his skin and threatening to escape. He leaned down and pressed a loving kiss to your forehead before leaning his head back onto yours and closing his eyes, trying to get more sleep of his own. 

“To hell with Cheong-san,” he thought to himself. “I’m never leaving you again.”

[scariusaquarius]

rehab. 20.

Avenger! Bucky Barnes x Winter Soldier! Fem! Reader

Summary: While on a mission to find any more possible super soldiers that were a part of the Winter Soldier program, Steve and Bucky make a discovery in an abandoned HYDRA base that was cleared out a few years prior to their mission. They discover the Reader, a long-forgotten soldier that was still asleep within a functioning cryostasis pod; still awaiting orders. While Bucky isn't happy about it, he is put up to the challenge of helping to rehabilitate the soldier in Wakanda where she may be able to become a person again.

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A/n: Now we're getting into the nitty gritty!! This one might be pretty long, so do forgive me. Because of how long this chapter is, there will not be a story notes at the end! Also, if you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee! If you would prefer to read Rehab on Archive, you may do so right HERE!

This is an au where Bucky joined the avengers but still rehabilitated in Wakanda (sometime before Infinity War [canon divergent cause NOPE]). I am NOT fluent in Russian, so I did use google translate cause I couldn't find a good translator that I trusted. If anything is wrong, PLEASE let me know!! Also, I tried to list as many warnings as possible so you know what the story will contain as chapters are posted. Stay safe!

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Genre: Slowburn, Enemies to Lovers/Friends to Lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Humor, Drama, Dark Content Rated: Explicit Warning: Angst, Dark Content: Graphic Depictions of Sexual Assault, Blood and Gore, Mentions of Manipulation, Kidnapping, Canon-Typical Violence, Body Horror, Nonconsensual Body Modification/Scarring, Emotional and Physical Abuse, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts/Ideation, Graphic Depictions of Human Remains, Mentions of Sexual Coercion/Manipulation, Death, Misuse of Drugs/Forced Drugging, Self-Harm (Graphic Depictions and Mentions), Nightmares

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Author: ScariusAquarius

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rehab masterlist. chapter 18 / chapter 19

His blood was pumping, heart racing and pounding deep within his chest. Despite the quinjet being in the air, Bucky was pacing back and forth in front of the lockers that were installed on the aircraft. His mind was reeling, anxiety and concern gripping at his mind as flashbacks inched and crawled towards the present part of his mind. The scar that conjoined his flesh to metal was pulsing and itching; a stark reminder of the potential for something to go wrong.

With Wanda up front in the cockpit with Clint and discussing among themselves softly, the only person left within the general area of the quinjet was Sam, who was watching Bucky with pursed lips and a frown. While Sam understood his worry, he was starting to wonder if Bucky's concern was running deeper than general empathy and compassion.

"You're gonna wear a hole into the floor, man, and we don't have enough parachutes."

Bucky's quick quip left his lips without missing a beat, annoyance clear within his tone as he continued to pace.

"Don't need one."

Sam chuckled, asking.

"I'm sure you'd want one at the altitude and speed we're at, Buck."

Bucky gave Sam a glare, shaking his head and wagging a finger at him.

"Nope, you don't get to call me that."

Sam just scoffed, rolling his eyes before he asked, his tone becoming gentler as he observed the way Bucky was starting to become emotionally-charged, his vibranium fingers twitching with the need to fight.

"Come on, man, what's going on? No judgement, no bullshit."

Bucky gave the man a glance, staring at him for a moment. While Bucky and Sam weren't the best of friends and hadn't really connected well, Bucky knew that Sam was coming from a good place. Sam was gentle despite being no-nonsense. Nonetheless, Steve trusted Sam, so in a strange way, Bucky was inclined to trust Sam as well. However, after a moment of thinking about it, Bucky pursed his lips before he shook his head, retreating into himself.

"It's nothing. Not in the mood."

Sam chuckled humorlessly, shaking his head as he adjusted his gauntlets.

"Yeah, no kidding. You've been radiating 'do not engage' since we got on the quinjet."

Bucky couldn't help but to hiss out, his anxiety starting to peak.

"You don't get it, Wilson. Just drop it."

"No, I do get it. You see yourself in her. Same programming. Same kind of trauma. Same thousand-yard stare. But you also know what she needs more than anyone, and right now, she's the safest that she can be in Wakanda."

Bucky finally caved, sitting down across from Sam as he clenched his jaw. Staring at the floor for a moment, he hesitated, his chest tightening again, and Sam urged gently.

"Talk to me, man."

Bucky glanced up at Sam before looking away, glancing down at his vibranium arm before he muttered.

"I can't stop thinking about what could go wrong. What if Rollins is already there...just waiting for the right moment? Even if the Director told us the truth, Holloway could have lied to cover his ass."

Sam nodded slightly, thinking over Bucky's words before he replied.

"Well, if you ask me, that's a lot of 'what if's to be thinking about."

The Falcon sat back, resting his arms against the tops of his thighs as he looked at Bucky, watching the way Bucky's brow furrowed. Sam continued, however, testing the waters as he stated.

"You know, maybe you're scared."

Bucky's brow twitched, and he snapped.

"I'm not scared."

Sam shook his head, replying with a raised brow.

"Right. You’re just pacing a groove into titanium flooring and chewing the inside of your cheek like it owes you money."

Bucky gave Sam a dry look, and he muttered.

"You always talk this much before a mission?

Sam smirked, teasing gently.

"Only when you get all moody and tragic. It’s like poking a bear. A very old, very stabby bear."

Bucky tilted his head, asking.

"Do you want to get stabbed? I don't mind giving free hand-outs every now and then."

Sam barked out a laugh, making Bucky roll his eyes and huff.

"See? Back to normal. Warms the heart."

Bucky's jaw clenched, and Sam sighed, becoming serious once more as he regarded Bucky with a stern expression.

"She's going to be alright. She has the best people in the world ready to go to war for her...and she's got you to make sure that she doesn't fall back into that place."

Bucky looked taken back, his body shifting uncomfortably as Sam's words went through his mind. After a moment of silence, Bucky finally opened up just the slightest.

"When...when I was still...the Winter Soldier, there was no way out. There were moments where I was starting to remember, starting to understand that what I was doing was wrong, but when HYDRA would catch wind...they'd take it all away and I'd be left a shell again..."

Bucky shifted, his flesh hand fiddling with his metal one slightly as Sam gave Bucky his undivided attention.

"Then it was just silence...confusion and pain...trying to understand what was happening and if what I was seeing and remembering was real or...or just a nightmare."

Bucky then looked up at Sam with a frown, stating quietly.

"(Y/n) is still in that place...and...and I don't know if I'm the one who can pull her out...if I even have that right when I'm still...when I'm still trying to find out when it all ends...where the Winter Soldier stops and...and James starts."

Bucky's words hung in the air like a reopened wound that was starting to smart and bleed again, and though Sam understood to a degree, he couldn't help but to shake his head and frown. His tone became stern, his eyes never budging from Bucky as his voice commanded the man to look at him.

"You think that you don't have a right to help her? You're the only one who ever could...who can truly understand what that woman needs. You got out of that place fighting tooth and nail, and you won. Bare hands with no map, and you, James, are still here."

Bucky's eyes softened just the slightest, the hammering in his chest slowing as he listened to Sam speak his mind.

"You're the only person that can show her that she doesn't have to be just a Winter Soldier...and you have. You've been helping her more than any of us ever could. I mean, come on, man! You were able to get (Y/n), the real (Y/n), to finally show herself. Do you really not understand how important that is?"

Sam sat forward a bit, pushing and exclaiming with vigor as he spoke.

“Explain to me how you’re the one who got through to her. How you saw past the programming, past the pain, and helped her to start to remember who she was. You think that’s nothing? That’s everything, Bucky."

Bucky couldn't help but to feel emotional, his eyes watering lightly, and he swallowed thickly as Sam eased his words, stating softly.

"Give yourself a little more credit, man."

Bucky stayed quiet, and Wanda came out from the cockpit, squinting slightly as the woman immediately picked up on the atmosphere between the men. Wanda asked, making Sam lean back and look at her.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Nah, we were just finishing up."

Wanda slowly nodded after raising her eyebrow, and she informed the two Avengers.

"We are arriving, and Fury has informed us that his contact and Natasha are waiting. If you are not ready, now is the time to get ready."

Sam nodded, and Bucky stood up, his demeanor becoming guarded and tense once more. Sam glanced at Bucky before stating firmly.

"We're gonna get him, Bucky, don't you worry."

Bucky nodded as the quinjet landed, silent and invisible as it descended into the woods.

"I know. I won't stop until we do."

The quinjet opened, and the Avengers stepped out, Clint shaking his shoulders a little and sighing as he complained.

"I'm not driving back. That was torture, and I'm a bit miffed I didn't get to hear the juicy gossip."

Bucky's face contorted into annoyance before greeting Natasha with a nod of his head as the woman smirked at him.

"Are you ready to give HYDRA the biggest 'fuck you' in over 50 years?"

Bucky's lips twitched with the ghost of a smirk, his blue eyes twinkling just the slightest as he replied.

"Well, it won't just be for me, but perhaps."

Natasha's lips quirked up with a knowing smirk, sharing a glance with Sam and Wanda before she turned to the unknown man. Bucky immediately began to profile him. The man looked to be an older gentlemen, hair cropped short within CIA regulations and grey hair twinging his temples. He was tall, lean and wiry, and his eyes were a steeled and prominent grey that looked almost white within the moonlight.

Even under the dimness of the night, Bucky could spot a prominent scar on the man's eyebrow; deep and jagged. The man was staring Bucky down just as hard, his jaw squared and looking as though he was...annoyed.

"This is Eli Maddox. He was a SHIELD operative hand-picked by Fury who specialized in liaison between SHIELD and the CIA. Nowadays, he's the senior field officer for the CIA Counter-Terrorism & Unconventional Threats Division...and shadowed asset for what remains of SHIELD."

The man was quiet; few words coming from him except for a nod. Instead of bothering with introductions, he was straight to business, and Bucky liked it.

"You are here for one reason and one reason only: Get Jack Rollins the hell out of my sight and to stop him from retrieving the asset.”

His choice of words-"the asset"-made Bucky tense up, and though Eli noticed, it did not make the man back down nor lessen the blows. Instead, his eyes narrowed at Bucky slightly; sizing him up and profiling him as Eli spoke.

"HYDRA's running out of resources and time, and they are aware that their power is now diminishing. They're staring extinction right in the face. Without the asset, HYDRA knows that they're through."

Eli handed Natasha a blueprint of The Farm while he continued to speak, Natasha immediately inspecting the blueprints and entry points and exit points that Eli had highlighted and circled.

"With the information Fury told me about Rollins, this is prime time for HYDRA to get their hands on (Y/n). While she is free from the Winter Soldier programming, she is still fragile enough for HYDRA to sink their teeth back in and exploit those vulnerabilities. Rollins knows this, and that's why he's infiltrated the CIA in order to gain more information on her and where she could possibly be."

Eli crossed his arms, shaking his head slightly as he spoke.

"Since the Avengers are working with any and all government facilities, Rollins doesn't have to try very hard to get information on where their asset is. The CIA's network is vast, and with the right connections, he’s already got access to classified files that should have never been touched. His infiltration is clean. No one even knows he's involved. He’s been moving under the radar for months"

Sam asked, raising his brow in question as he looked at Eli, the man regarding him with a glance as Sam spoke.

"So, let me ask you this: how did you find out about Rollins?"

"Given my position now and previous experience with SHIELD, I input a system to monitor any internal and satellite communications and transmissions that come in and out of the CIA. Before I found out about Rollins' infiltration, I started to notice a pattern of encrypted communications, anomalous transmissions, unauthorized access to highly-classified files, such as Project Achilles and projects (Y/n) worked on before her capture. I traced these activities back to an instructor that was recently hired a few months ago, and jackpot. Found the rat right in his hole."

Sam nodded before he waved his hand in front of him, eyeing Eli before adjusting his gloves and shifting from foot-to-foot.

“Just so we’re clear: You’re not coming with us.”

Eli shook his head, replying nonchalantly.

“Nope.”

Bucky then raised his eyebrow, affirming as well.

“No backup.”

“You’ve got Barton for that.”

Natasha's voice held a tone of sarcasm, a teasing smirk upon her lips as she asked.

“No plan B, then?”

Eli offered a half-smile to the woman, stating.

“You break in, get what you need, get out. If something goes wrong, you were never there, and I don’t know you.”

Clint grunted, a slight pout on his face.

“Classic spy stuff. I miss the aliens.”

Wordlessly, Eli turned and gestured for the group to follow him as they traversed through the woods. Clint asked in a hush tone, making Wanda chuckle slightly as he poked at Eli.

"So, you know, I'm a bit hurt, Eli. You never responded to any of my texts about brunch!"

Eli replied back crassly, not even gracing Clint with a look.

"The last time 'brunch' ever came out of your mouth, Budapest happened."

Clint guffawed in mock-offense while Natasha grinned. Bucky and Sam shared an exasperated look with each other before perking up as Wanda asked.

"If I may, why exactly are you helping us?"

Eli paused, his eyes darting around the terrain to watch for any possible agents, trainees, or other high-ranked officials that could possibly be passing through the area before he replied quietly.

"Fury called in for a debt to be answered, and I was obliged to answer my duty given that Nick Fury isn't someone you just walk away from. I've been cultivating this front for years, collecting any information on HYDRA that I could since SHIELD. Believe me, I wouldn't be willingly risking my cover if it weren't for what's at stake. If Rollins succeeds, there won't be a career nor cover to be had. Not for me, and not for any of you."

The group fell into silence as Eli gestured toward the barracks, each member ducking behind the treeline while blending into the shadows. Eli’s voice was barely a whisper as he spoke.

"This is where Rollins has been holed up. I can trip the security system, but it won’t take long before the Agency knows that you’re here. Get in, grab Rollins, and get out fast."

Everyone nodded, their expressions hardening with purpose. Eli motioned for quiet before slipping toward the back of the barracks where no security camera was in sight. He pulled out a small tablet, his fingers flying over the screen for a moment before he gave the green light.

"Alright, security’s down. Move!"

Without hesitation, the team dashed for the barracks—everyone except Eli, Sam, and Clint. Bucky’s heart pounded as the familiar rush of adrenaline flooded his veins. His breath felt thick in his chest as he slipped into the building, his steps precise and soundless. Through the corner of his eye, he saw Sam launch into the air, his wings a silent blur in the darkness, while Clint blended seamlessly into a nearby tree, the shadows cloaking him completely.

Once inside the barracks, Wanda’s eyes flared crimson as her hands extended, levitating her off the ground. She swept her gaze across the rooms, her powers extending like tendrils into every corner and every mind that was sleeping soundly within. Natasha and Bucky followed closely, their movements as fluid as shadows, silent in their advance as they rushed through.

"I don’t sense him yet."

Wanda’s voice whispered directly into Bucky’s mind. The intrusion sent a shiver down his spine, and he quickly glanced at her, disturbed by the telepathic connection. He shared a brief, uneasy glance with Natasha before muttering under his breath.

"He could be on the move already."

Natasha’s voice was light but sharp as she singled Bucky out.

"Do you have to be so negative, Barnes?"

Bucky didn’t respond. His mind was already elsewhere, running through every possible worst-case scenario as they moved deeper into the building. The weight of the mission, of what they were up against, of the possibilities that Rollins was already in Wakanda, was gnawing at him. Wanda, sensing his unease, glanced back at him, her gaze soft but knowing.

"You’re overthinking it."

Bucky huffed but said nothing as they descended into the lower levels of the barracks. The atmosphere grew heavier, the silence thickening around them. Wanda paused, her head turning slightly, her focus honing in. She spoke with a new tension in her voice.

"He’s definitely here… but he’s not alone."

Natasha whispered into Wanda's ear as she looked at the woman with a stern expression, her hand slipping to her gun on her hip.

"Who is he with?"

Wanda frowned before glancing back at her.

"Director Holloway."

Natasha rolled her eyes before muttering.

"Of course. Pigs will always squeal."

Quietly, the group moved to the closed door of the dorm room, kneeling and waiting for the right opportunity. With Bucky's enhanced hearing, he was able to get a front-row seat of the tense and hushed conversation inside.

"I swear, I had no choice! They put me in a-in a corner!"

There was a pause before Director Holloway began to beg, sobs spilling out of the man as his voice dripped with desperation.

"Oh, please...please, Rollins, please...I didn't think that it would turn out this way. I didn't think the Avengers would find out! I don't even know how they did, but...but I can still help you! I can still give you everything that you need to get the asset back. I just...oh god, I don't want to die."

Bucky's face contorted into an angry sneer as he listened, his body instantly reacting to the sound of Rollins' voice as memories and flashbacks began to hit him.

"Do you think you have a choice? You are no longer important. What more could you possibly give when I already have everything I need? Once my asset is back, HYDRA will regain its footing. Control will be established once more, and a perfect new order will arise. If you cannot come to terms with the future HYDRA is cultivating, then you don't deserve to be in the future at all."

The sound of a gun being cocked made Bucky's muscles tense and ready to jump into action as Director Holloway began to plead once more. Wanda finally busted the door down, her eyes glowing brightly as she glared at Rollins. Her hands were bright, seizing control of the gun and shoving it aside before forcing Rollins back into a chair. Director Holloway was shocked, his watering eyes wide, and Rollins seemed genuinely surprised as well.

His eyes darkened the second they landed on Bucky, and Bucky was no better; his demeanor and expression akin to the soldier he used to be. Natasha was quick to raise her gun and hold it to Holloway, who looked frightened by the display as she raised a brow at him. Rollins' voice made Natasha's shoulders square as she glanced at him.

"See? You'll always find your way back to your true home, солдат."

Bucky's teeth were bared as he sneered, his blue eyes dark as he bristled with a desire to kill the man once and for all. His body was deathly still and poised; ready for the final act as the White Wolf began to prowl.

"You don't get to call me that. Not anymore."

Jack smirked, shaking his head as he became cocky; arrogance oozing from his words like rotten syrup.

"Is that what you tell yourself when the nightmares wake you up? When our memories together flash into your mind, or when that fist of HYDRA twitches like it remembers who its' true master is?"

Wanda's fingers danced as the magic around her flared, crackling like a warning as she tightened the hold around Rollins' body painfully. Rollins didn't let any sign of discomfort show except for a twitch of his lips, and Bucky was quick to grab Rollins' by the throat, the man grinning the whole time with delight.

"Tell me what the true plan is. I know you don't want her back just to regain control. The chip, the reactivations...it was all apart of some bigger plan than Project Achilles."

Rollins' didn't respond. Instead, he dodged the question by coughing slightly, his eyes wide with haughty excitement.

"There you are, soldier! Tell me, what’s the plan here, солдат? Rough me up a little? Let the witch rattle my skull? You know better than anyone—I was trained to endure any and all for HYDRA."

Bucky immediately snapped back, his voice low and dangerous as his emotions began to get the best of him, his grip on Rollins' throat tightening more.

"I was trained to kill. You're still breathing because I haven't decided whether or not I want to give (Y/n) the pleasure of ripping you apart or not."

Rollins smirked.

"You think I am afraid of you or her?"

Wanda became impatient, red entering Rollins' head and making him squeeze his eyes shut and hiss out in pain as she forcefully began to scramble his mind before reassembling it.

"Tell us why HYDRA wants (Y/n) back. What are you planning?"

Rollins sneered, but before he could retort, Wanda placed her hands on his head. Like a light switch, Rollins' became complacent; his eyes glazed over as Wanda took control.

"They want to restore faith. You take a ghost, sharpen her edges, and send her into the light—where the world can see what happens when the Avengers fail to protect their own. She’s not just a weapon. She’s a message...a message that HYDRA will always prevail."

Before anybody could react or say anything, Director Holloway cried out softly, shaking within his boots as he clarified.

"HYDRA wanted her on the inside to kill the Avengers. They thought that if they planted her there...used the implanted chip to reactivate her...that reestablishing control would be easy. They didn't realize that Princess Shuri would have been able to cultivate such an effective AI that it would undo everything HYDRA did to program her."

Bucky let Rollins' throat go, turning to the Director and making the man cower as Bucky turned his anger towards him.

"You knew about all of this...you knew (Y/n) and you let this happen to her? You just stood by and watched as HYDRA killed her, remade her, and weaponized her!"

Holloway pleaded quietly.

"Please believe me that I tried! I tried to persuade them...to make them listen to reason, but they didn't care! Her own father cultivated her from the start, don't you understand? (Y/n) existed only for HYDRA...her whole life was fabricated for the purpose of her becoming a new asset! Her schooling, her friends, her job, even her mother knew! Everyone that was a part of (Y/n)'s life knew! The only outlier to it all was Rebecca!"

The familiar name made Bucky stop cold as his sister's face flew through his head, and suddenly, Meltzer Woods made sense. But how was it possible? Holloway looked ashamed, whispering softly.

"Nobody...nobody knew about (Y/n)'s friendship with Rebecca until after it had already begun...(Y/n) had extended family in Shelbyville, Indiana...she was visiting one summer and met Rebecca. But she wasn’t supposed to."

Holloway's lip trembled as Bucky stared him down with such a murderous gaze that Holloway began to shake uncontrollably.

"(Y/n)’s handlers at the time didn’t anticipate the visit—her extended family arranged it independently. It was a loose thread they overlooked. But the two of them clicked, and—God help me—they let it happen. HYDRA thought it would build emotional range. Make (Y/n) more adaptable when the time came to turn her into the Winter Soldier. More believable in a way...but something went wrong."

Holloway was crying now as he sat defeated, covering his eyes as he began to explain more.

"Doris began to get angry and upset...said it wasn't right what we were doing, began to lash out at Robert, and began to start forming a friendship with the Stark's that was jeopardizing the Project. So when Doris tried to run away with (Y/n) under the guise of visiting Baltimore...HYDRA called in their current asset at the time."

Bucky felt his stomach drop, and he started to feel the heat of fire against his face.

'Mom?! Mom, wake up! Mom, please! I...I can't feel my legs...I can't breathe!'

It was undeniably her voice. Bucky could feel the fire crawling over him, and Natasha exclaimed sharply.

"That's enough!"

The damage had already been done, however. Bucky's hearing was becoming static, his breathing quickening, and his eyes were becoming unfocused as the panic began to rise within him. Wanda was quick to respond, forcing him to calm down, and she glanced at Natasha, who was staring Bucky down like a hawk. Holloway continued to speak.

"No matter how many times we wiped her—she remembered Rebecca. That summer. That feeling. It was the only real thing in her life. She never saw her again, but… her mind refused to let it go."

Bucky didn't speak; couldn't with Wanda forcing him into a catatonic state, and he was unresponsive, even as Natasha ordered Wanda with a stern voice.

"Wanda, get these two out of here."

Wanda nodded, and with a flick of her wrists, Bucky and Rollins were forced out of the room and back to the quinjet with Wanda escorting them as quickly and quietly as possible. All the while, Natasha was staring down Holloway, who looked frightened at the darkness that shrouded Natasha's face while her eyes remained cold, calculating, and steady.

"You disgust me. All of this time, you knew, and you did nothing. You observed, rationalized, hid behind the bureaucracy of it all because being complacent was safer than burning the whole thing down. You never tried to stop it, you just tried to stop feeling guilty about it."

She knelt down to Holloways height as the man sputtered, trying to defend himself, but he was quickly silenced by Natasha holding her finger to her lips.

"If neither her or Bucky recover from this...you're not going to either."

Standing up, Natasha quickly left, leaving the man broken and weeping on the floor as the camp began to come to life; alarms blaring and people waking up for the day. Within the nick of time, everyone was back on the quinjet, but the atmosphere was so tense, nobody could speak.

Sam was watching Bucky as Wanda continued to work her magic, keeping him calm and collected as the quinjet took off, and Sam asked quietly.

"Are we going to make him remember this?"

Wanda looked pained, muttering.

"It is not up to us to make him forget. We would be no better than HYDRA if we took his freedom to choose away...even if this is extremely painful for him."

Natasha didn't say anything. She was sitting across from Rollins, toying with a knife within her hands as she fantasized about the different ways she wanted to kill him, and Clint's voice echoed back solemnly.

"The only thing we can do is be there for him and give him time. Find out about everything already fucked him up, but now that he knows he also played a part in this? Man's gonna be down for the count for weeks. We'll ask Steve and Shuri what to do."

The team nodded, and Clint shifted the quinjet into overdrive, eager to get back to Wakanda as soon as he possibly could; nervously glancing at Bucky through the rearview mirror all the while.

-

TRANSLATIONS:

Солдат - Soldat. Russian for 'Soldier'

TAGLIST: @tilldeathripsusapart @vicmc624 @mgchaser @aash3 @samfunko @seventeen-x @valckenaux @babybeeelle @sc4rrc @cjand10 @bane-y-zane @notsostrangerthing @thenameswinter99

[patrickispinky]

Sex, Drugs, Etc.

Warnings: Talk of drugs/Drug use. Possible smut in the future. SH. A lot of plot. EXTREME Canon divergence. Before Maddies time. Set in 2022

I got a lot of inspiration and motivation from @whoopsyeahokay series called October Sun if you haven't read it yet I recommend you do its amazing, you can find it on tumblr and Ao3. October Sun

(This is very self indulgent and based on things ive been through and how I could have very easily ended up as a ghost. This is NOT meant to romanticize addiction or mental illness. This is a judgment free zone so I want no bullying or hate on anyone. I'm not the best writer so be nice)

1.9k Words

Enjoy :)

-

Two days, two fucking days you’ve been rotting and no ones come to find you. Well no one alive at least. 

It started off normal, nothing out of the ordinary. Just another boring school day with the same washed out boring people. Tired eyes and even more tired souls. So what changed? A little slip up on the same thing that had almost claimed your life many times over the years except this time no one was there to save you. 

You were 14 when you first learned the only way for your brain to stop spinning, trying to find a new way to obtain peace was with a very simple little thing. Weed, this wasn't what was deadly, no it was what started the cycle. First it was weed, then it was alcohol, then it was late night parties, until one day it fell into the palm of your hand. A simple little pill, how could it cause so much damage? Things were fine until one pill turned into two then two turned into three and then you ended up on the patio of a stranger's porch foaming out the mouth. 4 days in the hospital and 2 weeks in rehab was enough to scare you for a while, but not enough to make you forget about the relief that came with it. 

That's how you ended up here, sitting in a circle sharing stories about life and death, a group of highschool boys who had no idea you were even there, playing basketball behind you. Should have just gone to group like you were told to, at least then you would have been with people who understood addiction. Now judgmental eyes fall upon you because you caused your own death. As much as you wanted to find someone, something to blame you knew you couldn't, this was your fault. The spinning hasn't stopped. At least ghosts couldn't go through withdrawal, doesn’t change the fact that the empty feeling you tried so desperately to fill is more presint than ever.  

The sweet voice of Mr.Martin fills the room. Like white nose until you heard him call your name. Head shooting up to look up at him. “Have you started working on your obituary?” Ah yes, ghost homework. you would have never thought that you would have been asked to write your own obituary yet here we are. Not as easy as it sounds.

“I’ve got some ideas” Like when you got so drunk you threw up on your friends cat, or when you were so high that your brother convinced you the plane flying over your house was a UFO, fun memories. Apparently you were supposed to write about the good parts of your life but that's kinda hard when the only good memories you had were caused by what put you in this situation to begin with. 

“Take your time, if you need to im sure some of the others wouldn't mind telling you about what they wrote, for motivation.” You give a simple nod, wanting all the prying eyes around you to look away. And they do, except a certain pair that had been watching you since you got here. 

Wally Clark, a sweet boy, bright future, died to soon like everyone else in this fucked up version of your own personal hell. He asked too many questions, it wasn't a secret how you died, just something you didn't want to talk about.  He respected that, like most of the others, most. Doesn't stop him from prying, staring with curious eyes. 

“I think that's all for today,  don't forget tomorrow's movie night as always our newest member will be picking the movie.” You give an awkward smile before standing up and turning to leave along with the rest of the group. Heavy footsteps creeping up behind you and the sound of your name being called stops you as the tall boy catches up.

“So um do you need help with your obituary? not to brag but I think I did a pretty good job on mine.” Wally was quite attractive, tall, with big brown eyes, and slick back brown fluffy hair. No doubt having made girls fawn over him during his lifetime. You and him weren't exactly friends but the idea of having a little help writing… well, a self obituary wasn't bad. 

“Sure, we could go to the library.” An excited grin grew on Wallys face, not expecting you to say yes. 

“Yeah, yeah the library sounds great” It was kinda cute how he acted sometimes. Not like a typical jock, a pure golden retriever. 

“Cool” You stand there kinda awkwardly, hands in the pockets of your red zip up hoodie as you gave him an expecting look. 

“Oh like now?” He was somehow the most confident yet most awkward person in the world. “Um okay yeah that works” 

You tilt your head sideways towards the door leading out the gym, indicating for him to follow you out. Taking the lead and making your way out, opening the door for him. “Ladies first” He let out a small chuckle at your attempt at a joke, considering it was the first time you really talked to anyone since everything happened. It wasn't that you didn't like people, you just didn’t understand the point of friends. It might sound depressing but having a small group of people that you know will stick around is better than hanging around people that barely know you. Yet here you are, stuck with strangers for eternity or until you finally move on, however long that’ll take. 

The hallway was filled with loud teens, some rushing to their next class others going out the back door, more than likely skipping. “So how does this work?” You look over at him.

“What? The afterlife?” He looks at you, a little nervous. “I don’t think im the best person to explain it to you, that's more of Charley's thing.” Charley was sweet, the first person you met when you woke up. Some sort of after life guide. 

“No, a self obituary.” The words felt weird coming out your mouth. “I know I'm supposed to write about all the great things in life but I don't think huffing nitrous in my uncles bathroom on thanksgiving really counts as a good memory.” 

“Nitrous? like the shit in whipped cream?” He gave you a sideways look, a concerned but humored smile on his face. 

“Yes, the shit in whipped cream, I don't recommend. I passed out and almost had a seizure.” As we reach the library he opens the door, allowing you to go in first. 

“Okay, maybe don’t include that in your obituary, how about” He thought for a second. “Write about your friends and family, I'm sure you have some good memories with them.” 

You let out a frustrated sigh as you sat down at a table, Wally sitting down across from you as you take off your backpack, pulling a pencil and the folder Mr.Martin had given you. “That's too much work, do you think Mr.Martin would notice if I just copied yours?” Wally laughs a little, his straight white teeth showing.

“No, he’ll totally believe that you played football and lost your virginity in your moms car.” Now you’re the one laughing, his sentence coming out way too casually. 

“You lost your virginity in your moms car?” You take a few seconds to process before you look at him judgmentally. “You included how you lost your virginity?” Though the smiles’ still apparent on your face. 

“Happy memories, remember?” And there's the jock attitude you were waiting for, somehow a bit surprising but not unexpected. “You could just write your feelings.” You have a whole journal for that from when you got sober… soberish. 

“This may come as a shock to you but I'm not exactly a feelings person.” Not totally true, it was just easier to not feel anything at all, especially with the situation you're in right now. 

“Really? I couldn't tell” The sarcastic tone in his voice very apparent. “Alright fine, if you were happiest when you were high then it's worth writing.” 

“Great, so high stories, got it” Though it wasn't the best idea, you had to write something so Mr.Martin would get off your ass about it. Reminiscing was a slippery slope, you were holding up decently so far but contrary to what all the others think it hurt deep down. “How about the first time I tried molly?” Probably one of the best ‘happy pills’ you tried in your lifetime. 

“What was it like?” He clearly had no intentions of finding out first hand, just curious of the experience. 

“It made me really aware but like in a good way.” There was no real way to describe it without going into depth. “And kinda trippy I guess, does that make sense?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” He knew he could never truly understand, no one could unless they experienced it themselves. As you begin to jot down the memory Wally peaks over, looking at the page though it's not very useful due to the fact that he doesn't possess the skill to read upside down. 

“Nosey” You laugh a little at his attempt to get to know you better. “You know if you want to get to know me, maybe there are better ways to do it then helping me write my own obituary” Yep, still didn't sound right.  

“Oh um yeah, this is probably a really weird first hang out.” He laughs awkwardly at the realization that this is still new to you. It wasn't like he had never been around a new ghost before, he knew he was supposed to be slow, supportive, ease them into it but with the way you acted sometimes made him think you were more used to this than he was. In a way you were, death was something that you had imagined so many times so when it actually came the idea of being trapped wasn't one you hadn't thought of before. “How about after we're done with this I could take you down to the pool?” 

You smile, the sentiment was sweet. “Thanks, but I don't know how to swim.” You were never taught and it didn't seem important in life so you just never learned. The surprised look on Wallys face was priceless.

“How the hell are you 18 and don’t know how to swim?” It wasn't judgmental, just a little surprised, but the grin on his face indicated that he had an idea. 

“Oh god, what are you thinking about?” You knew what was coming, he wouldn't be him if he didn’t jump at the opportunity to help a new friend. Wally was very readable and you didn’t know if that was a good thing yet. 

“I could teach you.” And there it was, of course he wanted to teach you. “It could be fun, plus you don't have much else to do.” 

“You know what fuck it, you’re right there isnt shit else to do.” Especially with your body still laying cold in the old abandoned locker rooms aka ‘the brain cave’. 

“Great, you should keep writing, the faster you get it over with the less weird it feels.” And that's how it started, you were never the friend type but as much as you hated to say it you needed someone. Sure that someone is very attractive and the idea of seeing him in nothing but swim trunks was a nice image but who could blame you? The afterlife is lonely.

Pt.2

[gold-rhine]

5.6. PARALOGISM SPOILERS

extremely polarizing feelings on this quest, ngl. i don't really have a problem with WHAT happened, but with HOW its happened.

first of all, pacing is crazy. after standing in a circle for 4 hours in a natlan finale we start doing ten million massive things in one hour, with almost no space for them to breathe or explore properly. this quest had less detalization than my bullet point inazuma rewrite. in fact, it feels like the writers did exactly bullet points in like one day and nothing else. i understand they were probs rushed due to change of direction with nod krai, but this is too much.

and tbh i dont even think it would take a lot to make this quest truly good. polish up an invasion sequence a bit, make it closer to natlan war section, add at least one actual cutscene. like the french gordon ramsey story quest had too many cut scenes, with special animations at that, and it tbh didn't need them, but they cant spare a separate cut scene for whole ass mond attack? hoyo, stop acting so cheap, we all know you have the money!

and then the main conflict, with albedo and durin. first of all. albedo saying that he considers himself a real human, just another type of human, and then saying that him killing susbedo is not a murder, bc he was NOT A PERSON??? babygirl, whats the difference between you two then? like he literally didn't have to say that, he could argue self defense bc that motherfucker tried to kill him and his friends. why dehumanize him and yourself?

and then framing durin as like ontologically evil, when all of his prev existing lore AND simulanka say that he was well intended, but with abyss aura that harmed the world just by existing. but now suddenly simulanka durin is the only one good, but actual durin is evil???? bc he's jealous of not being favorite child???? durin was thinking about how dvalin is beatiful and how he'd wanted to dance together while dvalin was killing him, but now hes pure evil bc of mommy issues, are you kidding me? bro did the writers of this quest even play simulanka? or take 5 minutes to read durin wiki page?? but even with that, in this very quest, venti says that durin feels like "an angry child". so you have an abandoned, tragic angry child lashing out and just go yeah, lets put him down, no attempts at reaching out??? what is this, hsr????

and like i truly think itd take like additional half an hour to fix and just a bit of actual writers effort. killing susbedo off screen is such a waste, and i'm not one of his fans or anything, i do not care about him personally, but he was a very well foil setup for albedo. and we exchange him for what? for fake copy of NPC no one cares about or knew before? literally why??? just washing 3 years of setup down the toilet.

instead of killing him off screen and having some durin mind controlled monsters (?????) dig him up for durin to eat, they could have just said he contacted durin himself. we know its possible! elynas is able to contact melusines through his blood crystals, same as dragonspine has, and even speak directly with the traveler when his heart awakens, and durin's heart is alive! bros, you already have the perfect setup, if only whoever wrote this took 10 minutes to read abyss dragons lore first! so susbedo could communicate with durin and teach him alchemy and influence his worldview!

albedo and susbedo could have had a confrontation that actually dramatizes albedo's conflict. albedo's answer to the truth of the world is that being a "real" human is about connecting with the world and other people, forging bonds and connections. which by itself is good character culmination and where it was always going, i always said that. but he just TELLS us that! instead, susbedo's philosophy could be the isolation, refusal to engage with the world, refusing to trust people bc he's afraid they will not accept him, and so instead using and controlling them. then it would be a juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints that SHOWS us albedo's arc instead of telling. and at the end of the trial susbedo could reveal the truth about albedo to try and turn ppl against him, but we could have mond people to accept albedo instead, bc they know him for years and he's friends with many of them! like that would be an actual logical conclusion of his arc, bc albebe, how are you gonna be like i'm a real human, truth is about having a life with other ppl, but you don't trust these ppl to not turn against you when they find out who you are?

and with durin i'm not even against durins merge, but they just introduced mini durin so rapidly, like RIP ppl who didn't play simulanka, and it wasn't explained in their "recollections" at all. and instead of just killing durin and replacing him with "better" durin, they could have communicated with durin, since hes whole theme is misguidedly lashing out, explain to him the situation. durin let himself be killed the first time bc he realized hes harming the world by existing, and he didn't want to, so they could have been like hey so in simulanka in special conditions we were able to clear abyss corruption from a version of you. we don't have fairy powers of life irl so we can't do the same exactly, but we can merge you with already cleansed mini durin, and we think this gives you the best chance to live an actual life as a part of this world, do you agree? like it wouldn't take much to write him to believably agree to something like that. like it would truly not even take that long to have that dialogue instead of putting him down like a sick dog.

[munariplans]

Hiii thank you for updating on your recent story! I enjoyed it!!💓 could I request Natasha x reader in a situationship & there’s a avengers wedding and they both get invited separately only for reader to see Nat in a different way and suddenly realised they had feelings all this time for her 🥹

the arrangement | natasha romanoff

synopsis: based on the request above!

natasha romanoff x reader

word count: 5.6k words

a/n: i really do have a fondness for writing pining and angst, enjoy hehehehe

masterlist

in a rare instance in the years you’ve known natasha, it was her that awoke first that morning, shaking you awake as yelena pounded on the door to her room.

“hey, hey,” natasha whispered-yelled, prompting you to get up while opening your eyes blearily, “you have to go. yelena’s here.”

yawning, you gave her an “OK” signal as you gathered your surroundings. you had once again fallen asleep in her room after last night. gathering your clothes and fixing your hair then, you spared a look at her mirror first before leaving, and what you saw almost made you want to laugh out loud. 

“how the fuck did you manage to cover me in this many hickeys?” 

natasha turned to you, halfway through freshening herself up as well. the redness in her cheeks grew prominent as she saw the many purple and red bruises littering all around your neck. cursing, she threw you a turtleneck from her wardrobe and pointed at the window. yelena was asking her why she was taking so long now.

but just before you climbed out, she thought about it, and risked it for a few more seconds, before pulling you in to press a kiss to your lips. “that girl that was hitting you up at the party last night was being annoying. had to show her you weren’t interested.”

you grinned, shaking your head at her ridiculousness. 

and right as you shut the window and slipped out, yelena barged in and threw her several wedding dress options onto natasha’s bed, demanding for her sister to decide which one looked best. but natasha hated to admit she was still distracted from the way your ass swayed right as you sultrily sneaked out of her window. 

–

later that same afternoon, you were walking with your friend, accompanying him ring-shopping, when the question first came up. 

“aren’t you ever interested in marriage? or, at the very least, finding a partner?” he half-joked. everyone knew you had been single for a while now. “we’re not so young anymore, you know.”

in response, you shrugged. “i don’t see a point.”

“in loving someone?”

“in being with someone, at all. the domesticity, the mundaneness, it’s all so…boring, after a while. i don’t see why you, and so many others, would want to be tied down by all of that, forever.”

“...so you don’t see a forever?”

“right now, with just one person, i don’t,” you said, your eyes drifting off to the street across, where a girl in braids of red hair reminded you of a certain someone you had begun sleeping with in the past few months. 

–

you called natasha on the way home, asking if she had company for the night, and if not, whether she wanted yours. 

she replied that she was frustrated, and that yelena was being a bitch about her wedding planning. natasha had insisted that a band would have been a better musical accompaniment, yelena had wanted to allow tony and clint to get drunk enough to sing for her.

you came to yelena’s rescue, apparently. because right as you arrived right back at natasha’s apartment, where the two women were clearly at each other’s throats and yelena had literally picked up a butter knife to threaten her sister, you caught natasha from lunging at her and wiping the stupid smirk off her face entirely. she thrashed in your arms, but with a few reassuring words and a promise to let yelena have a taste of her own medicine later, she relented. 

“can you believe how stupid she is sounding? wanting the drunkards to sing for her?!” natasha pointed out then, to which yelena took offence once more. 

“i’m sorry i want my wedding to be fun!” she screamed, “you can’t help it if god made your sister boring!”

“why, you–”

you held natasha firmer by your side, at the feeling of her nearly jumping to strangle her sister. “–natasha, enough. let it go.”

“she was being–”

“–it’s her choice, her wedding. let it go, will you? we can discuss this another time, when you two are less…riled up,” then, you leaned in closer, and whispered, “if you behave now, i’ll let you try fucking me against the glass of that window you like seeing me escape out of so much later.” 

her breath hitched, you knew you had struck a deal with natasha. she backed off, and even stopped herself from retaliating at yelena’s middle finger and stuck-out tongue.

but when yelena had left for the day and the two of you were alone, natasha found herself being strapped to the passenger seat of your car, as you drove her to her favourite ice cream parlour nearby.

a pout on her face, natasha asked as you parked, “i thought we were going to have sex after she left.”

you nodded understandingly. “we are, but i think i need to cool you down with ice cream first. i don’t want to get myself injured from your wrath with yelena earlier.”

the truth had been because you thought natasha needed a space to calm down and process her feelings first, and not to bottle it up and shove it away from sex. plus, you thought that the treat would cheer her up a little as well, putting aside how hot you found angry sex was with natasha.

of course, with your little quip, you could only expect natasha elbowing you as hard as she could, as you laughed and opened the door for her to the parlour.

–

“they have a new flavour here,” natasha pointed against the display, “apple pie.”

“you won’t like it.” you thought about natasha’s preferences for ice cream, and while they were boring, they were safe. “they have your usual today.”

but she took it as a challenge, apparently. “i’m going to try it.”

and as the cashier took both your orders, natasha noticed you place an order for her usual flavour. while it was odd that you would deviate from anything even remotely far from cookies and cream, she chose not to speak of it. 

you watched as natasha took her seat in front of you, then taking one bite of her apple pie scoop, before her face morphed into one of doubt, then slight discomfort, and finally, disgust. still, she tried to hide it from you, putting on a straight face as you asked her how it tasted. 

“fine,” she said, but her disdain said otherwise. 

in response, you smirked, offering her a bite of your own scoop. she was persistent in not wanting to at first, but as you offered her again, she took a bite, then another, and another, and oh well by that point you had given her your entire scoop and taken hers away from her. 

you tasted the apple pie scoop. it had cinnamon, something natasha clearly disliked. there was no wonder, you thought, smiling to yourself as you watched her finish the last of her usual order of vanilla with chocolate sprinkles. 

–

you were at the bachelor’s party of yelena’s fiancé when natasha’s call came in. she had dropped you a string of drunk texts that night, a product of her own consequences from attending yelena’s bachelorette party.

“hello, natty?” you answered, moving away from the noisy atmosphere of the club to a secluded side. you caught the groom giving you a confused look, you gestured that it was natasha on the line, and he gave you a weird smirk. 

“hellooo,” she drunkenly slurred. in the background, you could hear yelena asking for more shots. “my lovely, lovely, friend. where–are–you? i want to go home nowww…”

you moved further away from the club, bringing your phone closer to your ear. “i’ll come pick you up. are you sober enough to text me the address?”

just then, the phone was brought to maria’s side, and you could hear her shrieking for natasha to let you enjoy the party, and that there were designated drivers to bring her home if she needed to. natasha yelled back that she wanted you to come pick her up. 

you got the address from the groom, as he and the other people in the party boo-ed you for leaving so soon. you still had a line of shots to finish and a karaoke match that you would be missing, but you had already picked up your jacket and began finding your car keys to pick up natasha then. 

when you found her, she was slumped over the bar counter, in a conversation with the bartender, who was clearly wanting to serve the other customers to earn his keep. you approached, and natasha immediately went to your side as she hung off of you, smiling from ear to ear. her smile made your own lips turn up in amusement. 

“are you the one she’s been talking my head off all night?” the bartender asked, and you chuckled. 

“i guess so,” you thanked him for taking care of her, and left the bar after saying a round of goodbyes to the people in yelena’s party as well. 

– 

you helped natasha to the passenger seat of the car, but right as you reached over her body to help fasten her seatbelt, her hand caught your wrist, forcing you to look up at her. 

her eyes met yours, and in a clear split second of momentary sobriety, you saw sincerity in them. she whispered, “you’re so pretty,  i think i might be in love with you.”

you couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled in your throat, as your first reaction was to snicker, then look away from her. then, when you heard her groan behind you, the snickers became full-blown chuckles as you laughed in her face at the drunken confession. “oh, i have so much blackmail material against you when you’re drunk.”

natasha hit you frustratedly as you returned to the driver’s seat, but you caught her hand as you continued, “you’re drunk, natasha. you’re saying things you don’t mean.”

you helped her out of the car again as you reached her apartment, her leaning her body on yours as she stumbled finding her way through the building. using the extra set of keys she had given you, you unlocked the door and set her down on her sofa. 

guiding her to her bedroom, you felt natasha’s hands then start travelling up and down your body, and while in any normal circumstance you would have indulged her, and perhaps initiated more, you knew she was drunk. you weren’t going to be the asshole who took advantage of their friend, with benefits, when it was unclear even to her what she was doing. 

you removed her hands, and let her lie down on the bed. she pouted. “do you not want me?” 

she saw you disappear into her bathroom for a minute, before returning with her toiletries. “i do. you know i always do. just not when you’re drunk.”

“but i want youuu,” she slurred, “and i’m so horny nowww.”

you smirked, but still refused. instead, you rested on top of her, slowly removing her false eyelashes, then wiping off her makeup, and finally helping her carefully wash her face. she sighed at the gentle massage and warm water. “you know, anyone else would have said yes. anyone else would have been dying for natasha romanoff, me, to sleep with them like this.”

“but i’m not anyone else, aren’t i?” you quipped, taking off her clothes and rejecting yet another advancement for her to take yours off as well. you went to her dresser to find her pyjamas. 

natasha rolled her eyes, turning her body away from you as you dressed her up again in protest. you smiled to yourself at her cuteness, tucking her in and pressing a kiss on her forehead. “tomorrow, when you’re sober and still up for it, call me. i’ll be here right away.”

she watched you place a strip of advil and a glass of water for her hangover tomorrow, before gathering your things again. “...you’re not going to stay? where are you going?” 

drunk natasha really was clingy natasha, you thought. “i have another hookup i need to get to. need to make the most of my nights, you know?”

in truth, you didn’t want to overstep any boundaries you and natasha had set up for yourselves when you first got into this…arrangement. she was clear on not wanting any feelings to be involved, and with how things were turning out tonight, you were afraid that if you stayed, there would be a blurring of some lines from her end on her feelings; lines that she would reenforce the morning after even more strictly. and while you didn’t generally have a problem with that, you had felt that you had gotten natasha to lower her walls down enough to enjoy your company beyond your flings; you didn’t want to risk all that just for a night where she could possibly tell you her drunken feelings about you. you treasured your friendship too much for that. 

and so you left, leaving natasha slightly stung and hurt with the implication that you had someone else, or a lot of someone elses, waiting for you if she wasn’t sleeping with you, and strangely, it affected her more than she thought it would, even drunk as she was. watching you leave, she thought selfishly about how she hadn’t slept with anyone since she began sleeping with you, so was it only fair that you had the decency not to as well?

but you and her were just friends, she had to remind herself. it was not like she had power to dictate who you were seeing, and who you slept with, anyway. it was not like you two were exclusive, or in a relationship at all, which was precisely what natasha hadn’t wanted at the start. now, she was wondering why she even uttered those words at all. 

little did she know, you were doing nothing of the sort. instead, you had gone straight home, put up a romantic comedy on the TV, heated yourself some leftovers, and sighed as you pondered over your own early end to the night.

– 

everyone who knew you and natasha, knew however, that whatever relationship you two had, was more than just friends. that the two of you had crossed the line of just friends about twenty late-night hookups and rendezvouses ago, no matter what either of you claimed about the other. 

it was clear in the way you cared for natasha more than any other friend you had, it was clear in the way natasha sought out for you more than she even initiated a conversation with anyone else. 

which was what made it so incredulous; that you would allow anyone else try to court natasha before you did. 

everyone had warned bucky that what you and natasha shared was more than just a surface friendship, and relations ran deeper than what he thought was possible. but still, it didn’t stop him from taking your own words against yourself, and confronting you about it one day.

“you’re just friends, right?” he asked haughtily, interrupting you as you were helping yelena sort out the final touches to her wedding venue arrangement. you dismissed him with a quick grunt and agreement. 

but he followed you. “then you wouldn’t mind helping me get to know her, would you? or better, helping her fall for me?”

you paused in that moment, yelena, overhearing the conversation, consequently giving him a weird look as well. surely not, she thought, turning her attention to you, but you seemed to contemplate his request. 

and she nearly choked in disbelief, when surprisingly, you agreed to help him out in chasing natasha.

you shared with him that natasha’s birthday was approaching, and when he asked what kind of gifts she would like, you wanted to say something small, heartfelt. but then you realised it was probably only in your case she would like it so. from anyone else, you thought she deserved the world. 

“something big, extravagant,” you told bucky, “natasha deserves only the best, you see.”

he happily lapped up any information you gave him about natasha, the person who knew her best. 

and when her birthday did arrive, you watched by the sidelines as bucky shyly presented his gift to her, an outlandish, extravagant display of just his infatuation for the woman. everyone had thought it was well-thought out, very well suited to what she liked, and you patted yourself on the back at the comments. it was you, after all, who had accompanied bucky to get her gift. 

natasha looked flustered, admittedly, at the surprise of someone knowing what she wanted so well. it wasn’t everyday that she told the people around her what she wanted for her birthday, after all. and to think about it, she had only told you, of her wishlist upon her birthday. 

when she found a moment with you alone that night, as the party winded down and everyone began to leave, she was interrupted by bucky hanging around foolishly, almost as if he was waiting for something to happen between them. she kindly gave him a kiss on the cheek, and promised him she would call him the next day. she needed to get to you first.

you were by the bar as you watched their interaction, the giddy look on bucky’s face as he left and gave you a thumbs-up making you chuckle. 

then, natasha appeared by your side, asking you what was so funny. you didn’t have the heart to tell her. 

“i didn’t forget to get you a gift, by the way,” you told her when she had coaxed you up to her bedroom, “i just…didn’t want the others to see. saved you the embarrassment of the teases and accusations in front of everyone.”

“oh god,” natasha replied, “you’re going to gift me a sex toy, aren’t you? i just know it.”

“you are such an addict,” you snickered, “what do you take me for?!”

then, you pulled out a small box from your jacket, tied in a tiffany blue ribbon with her name written in an accompanying card alongside the box. natasha’s fingers trembled as she received your gift.

to my natasha, my bestest friend. 

she didn’t know why her heart dropped a little in disappointment at the note. but she kept up her unwavering smile, and pulled on the ribbon. 

it was a silver necklace, with a flower pendant right in front. it was neither tacky, nor extravagant and luxurious, like bucky’s gift had been. and while his gift was definitely something natasha liked, and was surprised by, your gift had been the one that almost sent her to tears. 

“because you’re beautiful like the flowers,” you said, a little uncertain as you watched tears well up in her eyes, “natty, are you okay?”

she tried to reel in the tears, but to no avail. worried, you said, “if you don’t like it, i can return it, it’s okay. i can probably get back a half-refund for it, and get you the voucher to spend on something else. oh god, you’re crying because of me, is it that bad…?”

but then, suddenly she was throwing herself onto you, arms wrapped around your neck as she sobbed hysterically. she had never known someone who knew her so well. you wrapped your arms around her body, still confused, when she choked out, “i-it’s perfect. thank you.”

she asked you to help her put it on, and when the clasp was tightened and natasha felt the pendant rest on the base of her collarbones, she held it as if she was holding it close to her heart. it was the best birthday gift she had ever gotten. 

“i’m sorry it’s a little small, and kind of lame,” you professed later, as she laid on top of you, spending the last few moments of her birthday together. it was also the rare few times the both of you were fully clothed while laying on that bed. “i know you deserve so much better, but i…i saw the pendant, and it reminded me of you.”

natasha listened to your heartbeat quicken as she reached out for your hand, interlacing her fingers with yours. “i loved it. you don’t have to apologise. thank you, for today as well. steve told me you planned the party from start to finish. called the caterers to make sure they had what i liked, arranged the drinks from the bar, even nearly having a fight over the cake decorations with the bakery. it must’ve been so much trouble.”

your laugh this time was warm, rumbling from your diaphragm. “not at all. not if it’s for you.”

your eyes met hers, and when natasha readjusted her face just so that she could be closer, to give you a perfect opportunity to lean down and kiss her, to give her the perfect end to her birthday night, you stupidly looked away, and told her you couldn’t stay. 

as you left, you reminded her to call bucky again, and natasha nearly threw her own phone at you in frustration. 

– 

natasha had unwillingly agreed to a lunch date with bucky, upon your suggestion that he was a nice guy, and that she was the only one left to go to yelena’s wedding without a date. she made you promise to pick her up right after, and while you feigned that she was so troublesome for asking for such, you were happy to do it for her. 

“well, how was it?” you asked. you had been driving for a good fifteen minutes after picking her up, and natasha still had not said one word about him. she had only been talking to you about your day up until then. 

she shrugged, almost as if not giving a care for it. “it was okay. he paid for the lunch. we talked about yelena’s wedding.” 

“okay enough for a second date?”

she looked away to the window. you thought you said something wrong, when she replied, “what do you think about him?”

“well, i don’t know,” you said, “when he came to me, asking for help to get you to like him, i thought he seemed genuine enough. so…i helped him.”

“wait,” natasha suddenly sat up, shooting you a glare, “you were helping him? to get to me?”

your gaze met hers for a brief moment, before returning to the road. “...yes? is there anything wrong with that?”

she stayed quiet for a moment, but you knew she was seething. you offered to explain yourself, to tell her that you just wanted the best for her, that’s all, and that bucky seemed like a good partner for her, when natasha held up a hand to stop you. 

then, she demanded for you to stop the car and let her out.

“what?” you asked, puzzled. “it’s still half an hour to your apartment, natty. and it’s about five degrees out, you’ll freeze to death if you get out.”

“i said, stop the car!” she argued back defiantly, “stop the car or i’m opening the door right now and throwing myself out!”

you knew not to take natasha’s words lightly, as you stopped finally. then, you watched with even more disbelief, as she unbuckled her seatbelt, got out, and slammed the door shut again. 

when she began walking her route home, you followed her with your car and pleaded, “come on, natty, are you mad at me?”

she refused to make eye contact or acknowledge you. 

“fine, i was wrong. i never should’ve helped him, and i won’t help him anymore. i just…i wanted what was best for you, you know? come on, get back in the car, it’s cold outside, and you still have so far to go if you walk.”

“what’s best for me…” she said under her breath, “...how do you know what’s best for me?”

“natty, i said i’m sorry!” you begged this time, but natasha suddenly took a turn to the right, leading up to a row of shops where the roads didn’t allow for cars in, and you knew it was your sign to leave her alone. she still didn’t acknowledge you when you said you were sorry for the third time. 

–

the next time bucky came up in a conversation between you both (you had been very careful not to tread upon it since that day), natasha told you that she had let him down and told him to try again when she was more ready for a relationship.

you were afraid of asking why, in fear that she would ignore you and get upset all over again, but she invited you to do so. so you asked, and she said that she had her eye on someone else the whole time, so it was unwelcomed at the thought of you trying to set her up with bucky.

you had wanted to ask who it was, your curiosity piqued, when you were interrupted by wanda asking you for a dance. it had been at another friend’s wedding, after all. 

natasha found herself digging her fingernails into her palms when you took wanda’s hand and danced with her.

–

the woman showed you just how jealous she had been of wanda hours later in your bedroom. with the knowledge that her and bucky were no longer a thing, you no longer had to respect your boundaries with her as a friend, and the both of you returned to sleeping together again. to say that you missed natasha’s touch had been an understatement.

“you look so pretty with my hands around your neck,” natasha whispered harshly. there it was again. the last time she called you so pretty, she was drunk. now, she was sober, and you were still finding it hard to believe her words. perhaps it was just something she said in the heat of the moment.

you moaned as her fingers plunged harder, and deeper, within you, letting your eyes roll to the back of your head as natasha ravaged you for the night. in the morning you would wake in her bed again, and it would be okay, because you had her back, finally. the red, raw trails on your back from her fingers wouldn’t feel so sore, the hickeys around your neck and jaw no longer a nuisance. because you had her back, and it was all that mattered. 

–

leading up to yelena’s wedding, the two of you returned to a shared normalcy that was similar to before the bucky incident; something both you and natasha were grateful for.

you would pick her up for lunch at her favourite restaurants most days, and on more than one occasion, you would catch natasha taking pictures of you when the both of you were alone. she thought you looked too good, in the natural sunlight of the restaurant window, and in the scarf that she had bought for you for your birthday. 

when you would ask to see the photos later on, you found it hard to disagree that the world did look better in natasha’s eyes. 

away from your prying eyes later, natasha would set the photos she took of you as her phone wallpaper. 

– 

with natasha as the maid of honour and you being one of the grooms (wo)men, natasha was the one who insisted that you at least knew how to dance properly when the slow songs came about. you had whined that you wouldn’t be dancing anyway, since you didn’t have a date, and you weren’t looking to find a date, but the woman was insistent, and you could never really say no to her. 

“it’s easy, just follow me, and try not to step on my feet,” she reminded you, fixing the turntable to an elvis record. you watched in adoration at the warm lighting of the room, and how, even in her pyjamas and her hair tied in a messy bun, natasha still managed to look beautiful even in her apartment’s living room. 

she took your hands in hers, placing it on her waist, as she laid her head on your shoulder. “breathe. and follow me.”

the music played. it was easy enough keeping up with natasha, following her footsteps and swaying to the music. but what was not easy, was having her breath fanning out against your neck, the smell of wine in her mouth, and the music, oh the music. it was a huge mistake to dance with natasha when elvis’ can’t help falling in love was playing in the background.

the both of you softly, slowly danced, natasha taking comfort in your touch, while the music accompanied all that you were feeling for the night.

shall i stay? would it be, would it be a sin? if i can't help falling in love with you 

would it be a sin if you fell for natasha? you could only hold her closer, relishing in the fact that in that brief moment, where the two of you were dancing, no one else mattered, and nothing else was there, except for your two souls, beating as one. once the song was over, it would be back to being just friends for you both, but in that moment, you were infinite, and you were natasha’s. 

when she felt you let go first as the song ended, natasha resisted the urge to hold on tighter and ask for a second song. 

– 

on the morning of the wedding, you woke natasha up first, pressing kisses all over her cheeks and face as she giggled and wrestled you off. then, she tried sneaking her hand past the band of your panties, to which you reluctantly pulled her out of, mentioning how you couldn’t be late to yelena’s wedding, of all events. she groaned and kissed you for a consolation prize. 

the both of you got ready together. in the bathroom mirror, when the two of you were brushing your teeth, you made eye contact with natasha and she did with you. she smiled shyly, and you realised you didn’t mind spending the rest of your mornings brushing your teeth beside her for a lifetime. 

she sat on your lap as she did your makeup, and you did the same doing hers. the both of you must have had a silent agreement to not look into the other’s eyes for too long in those moments, because you knew natasha wanted to kiss you just as much as you wanted to kiss her when she got too close. 

and when the both of you arrived and separated into your respective sides of the venue, you wished natasha the best of luck with a kiss to her cheek. she hugged you back in reassurance, telling you would do well in the slowdance later. 

when the guests were seated and ready, and natasha and you standing in the opposite sides of the bride and groom, you caught her eye again, watching yelena walk in. she looked absolutely radiating, and you knew she was thanking natasha secretly for convincing her that a band was a better musical accompaniment than whatever she had planned for herself. 

you look beautiful, you mouthed to natasha. she hid her blush in the bridesmaid beside her, as she mouthed the same back to you. 

but when elvis’ song came on again, as yelena walked down the aisle, your eyes were still transfixed on each other. it didn’t matter, because everyone else’s eyes were on the bride then. only you and natasha had each other.

and suddenly, you realised that forever with someone, didn’t seem so bad at all. not if it’s with her. not if it’s natasha. 

 the domesticity, the mundaneness, it wasn’t all so boring if it was with her. you realised you would relive the thousands of days of doing nothing, if it was spent by her side. 

you realised you would do anything for her, even go out to get a ring for her right then, propose and then marry her in a chapel, if that was what she wanted. if it meant forever with her. 

you realised that maybe you loved her, more than just friends. and loving her meant realising that you didn’t have to make a wish ever again because you already had everything you could ever want with her. 

– 

you wanted to ask for her hand when it was time to slow dance. you wanted to ask her to be yours. you wanted to ask her if it hurt to breathe while you loved her as much as she loved you. 

but when you found her, and went to her side to ask her, you were interrupted by bucky once again, who patted you on the back and diverted his attention to natasha. 

he asked her to dance first. and the smile on your face fell, natasha noticed. she halted him, turning to you to ask what was wrong, but then you shook your head, telling her you were fine. she asked again, but you insisted that she dance with him. you would tell her later.

you didn’t know if you were too late. you didn’t know if there were good reasons natasha had established boundaries between the two of you, and whether breaking them meant losing her forever. what were you thinking, that just because you caught feelings, meant she would catch them too? 

you wouldn’t risk what you have with her just because of your feelings. you treasured natasha too much for that. 

and so when she slow danced with the man on the dance floor and tried catching your eye to dance with her instead, you only gave her a small smile and left the ballroom first. 

because you weren’t hers and she wasn’t yours. that had been the arrangement from the start. 

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Hi,love ur stories 😍

I was wondering if u could do one based on 'I see the light' from tangled, where they meet at a mutual friends wedding or something, she was singing the song where she has the most melodiest voice and (charles, max or Pierre) somehow 'fall in love' at first sight of her along with her voice. Thx 😊😍

This was cute 💕 I hope you don't mind but I changed the setting a little bit.

Tangled Up In You || MV1

Pairing: Max Verstappen x singer!fem!reader Warnings: fluff, slight angst with his ex, more fluff WC: 2.2k

F1 Masterlist

Children were known to be resilient creatures that could adapt well to changes but Penelope had struggled to understand why her and her mother no longer lived with Max. It had been six months and still she asked where her ‘Maxie’ was and why he couldn’t come with them to their new home. 

So, it came as no surprise when she was asked who she wanted to invite to her 4th birthday party that Max was at the top of the list.

“...you don’t have to come, I can say you are busy-”

“No, I’ll be there, Kel,” Max interrupted as he put the call on speaker and added the event to his calendar. “Is P there? Can I talk to her?”

“Sorry, she’s with Daniil picking out her princess dress. The theme’s Disney, of course,” Kelly laughed softly before she sighed. “Are you sure you want to come, or are you just being nice?”

“I want to come. I miss our tea parties, and standing on tiny pieces of lego.”

The silence on the line lingered for a moment before she couldn’t help asking. “Do you miss me?” 

This time it was Max who sighed. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”

He hung up before she could apologise again. Somehow she always turned a conversation back to their relationship, but that wasn’t something Max would ever entertain. If the man knew one thing from his life of racing it was how to move forward and when the three year relationship he had run its course he had taken time to reflect, just like those post-race debriefs, and planned to use it as a lesson learned for next time.

Kelly had overdone it as usual. 

The largest ballroom of Hôtel de Paris had been transformed into a set straight from Disney and filled with actresses dressed as Penelope’s favourites princesses. 

It was easy to spot P when Max walked in because her excited squeals were impossible to miss and he followed the sound to the front of the stage where she was jumping excitedly.

“Maxie!” she screamed, running and jumping at him trusting he would catch her.

“Happy Birthday, P,” he grinned as he lifted her up into a hug. “I can’t believe you are two years old already.”

“I’m four, silly!”

“No, that can’t be. You can’t possibly grow up that quickly.”

“I can! Have you seen my princesses? My favourite one isn’t here yet but mummy said she’s going to be here any minute.”

Max scanned the room for the princesses and saw the usual ones like Cinderella, Snow White and Aurora. “Is Rapunzel still your favourite then?”

Penelope nodded with a big toothy grin. “She’s so pretty. I want to be like her when I grow up.”

Max put her down carefully and straightened the tiara sitting on her perfectly styled hair. “You are already prettier than everyone here, P.”

“There you are,” Kelly greeted Max as she left another conversation to join them, kissing his cheeks twice just a little too close to the corners of his lips. “Just in time too. Sweetheart, look who’s here.”

Penelope screamed as she spotted Rapunzel taking the stage, a long golden braid adorned with flowers hanging all the way down her back. “It’s her, it’s really her,” P squealed as she squeezed Max’s hand. “She’s beautiful.”

Max was in a state of shock as his jaw fell slack. “She is.”

The lights of the stage dimmed until only a single spotlight cast a warm glow to her skin, the braiding of hair around her head appearing like a golden crown, or more accurately, a halo.

Max recognised the song in an instant, remembering the evenings spent on the couch watching Tangled, P dancing across the living room floor as she sang her little heart out. The memory brought a smile to his lips and it only grew wider as the angel on the stage began to sing.

You double checked the wig was held firmly by the pins and not a strand of hair was out of place before running your palms over the dress to make sure there wasn’t a single wrinkle on the pastel pink material. Satisfied you were ready, you hooked the small microphone and earpiece into place and nodded to the sound engineer to start the cue.

It was no difficult task to smile brightly as the music began and you twirled out onto the stage, you lived for these days. Seeing the excitement and joy your performances made the children who witnessed it brought joy to your life. Seeing their eyes widen and their jaws drop was what motivated you to channel even deeper and give your all to the act.

All those days watching from the windows All those years outside looking in All that time never even knowing Just how blind I've been

You spotted the birthday girl at the front of the crowd and plucked a bright flower from the braid, kneeling down to tuck it behind her ear. Her smile widened and she could hardly stand still as she trembled with excitement.

You waved a hand to the ceiling and the projector illuminated it with a thousand little glowing dots and a surprised gasp whispered across the largest crowd you had ever sung to.

Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight Now I'm here, suddenly I see Standing here, it's all so clear I'm where I'm meant to be

You smiled at the little girl once more before spinning on your toes beneath the twinkling lights, the tulle skirt billowing around you as if you were floating away with them.

Around the room, the other casted characters were turning on their lanterns and raising them into the air on near invisible strings. You could perform this set a thousand times and never tire of seeing the crowd's reactions to the lanterns floating into the night sky.

And at last I see the light And it's like the fog has lifted And at last I see the light And it's like the sky is new

You scanned the crowd while they were in a state of wonderment looking up, but there was one man who wasn’t. He still held the same unblinking look of awe but he could have been oblivious to the lights the way he was staring right back at you.

There was something about the look that almost knocked you off your feet as your stomach flipped and heat burned on your cheeks under the intensity. His eyes, a pale shade of blue, drew you closer to the edge of the stage and his foot lifted as if he were to follow.

And it's warm and real and bright And the world has somehow shifted

His lips moved like he knew the words by heart and you nearly missed the line as your heart skipped a beat. The rest of the crowd faded away as you knelt back where you had been and pulled another flower from your hair.

All at once everything looks different Now that I see you

He leaned forward and you tucked it behind his ear, your fingers grazing his jawline as you retreated. You were so absorbed by his shy smile and the blush highlighting his cheeks you didn’t notice the woman standing to the side of him. For a moment, before you caught yourself, it was only him that you sang to and only him that you saw.

“Please, please can I?” P begged her mother to go and see Rapunzel but after the breathtaking performance she had been in a mood and withdrew her hand from her daughter’s. 

“No, your cake is going to be coming out in a moment - I need to be here to show them where to put it.”

Tears welled along the four year old’s eyes and her bottom lip trembled before Max stepped in. “How about I take her?”

He had been watching the stage entrance for any sign of movement since her song had ended and it was hard to hide the disappointment when she didn’t return for another. He could still hear her voice and was busy committing it to memory in the hopes he could use the sweet, melodic sound to calm his racing mind when he lay awake alone at night.

Max couldn’t explain how utterly obsessed he had become or how he wished he knew what delicate perfume it was he had inhaled when she touched his face. He ran his hand along his jawline, following where her fingers had been under the guise of a scratch, and he was glad he had tidied his beard up for the event.

“Of course you would offer that,” Kelly bit back, pulling him from his thoughts as his hand fell away from his face. “Whatever, do as you want.”

Penelope understood the permission but missed the sarcasm and Max sighed to himself as he took P’s hand and made their way to the curtains that hid the makeshift backstage area.

“Rapunzel!” P squealed as she rushed forward, towing Max to keep up until she barrelled into the princesses legs and wrapped her arms around them. “I love you.”

You had almost begun to pull your wig off when you heard a little girl call out. You turned just in time to catch her as she grappled you into a hug and you laughed softly as you tucked her hair back behind her ear to see the flower you had given her.

“Aren’t you the sweetest little girl,” you giggled as you knelt down to her height and took in the sight of the man who followed her, his hands tucking into his dress pants. You drowned in the eyes that had held you captivated before tearing yours away and swallowing the disappointment that had crept up your throat. “I hope you are having the most magical birthday with your father.”

The birthday girl looked up at him with a laugh. “This is my Maxie.”

You tried to hide your confusion but he obviously saw it as he scratched the back of his neck, the material of the shirt he wore straining as his biceps tensed.

“Uh, I am, was, her step-dad,” he corrected as he gave the girl a small sad smile before offering his hand to you. “It’s just Max, or you can call me Maxie too, I guess, if you want.”

You smiled in amusement as you shook his hand, the touch lingering a little longer as neither of you made an effort to pull away.

“I’m Rapunzel,” you said as your eyes darted to Penelope.

“Right,” he chuckled and let his hand fall back to his side as he looked at her too. “Your cake might be waiting for you, P. Do you want to go check?”

“Can you come?” she asked you with big round eyes.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, but Eugene has probably got himself into trouble without me, so I should really be going. But I must thank you, it was an absolute delight to celebrate your birthday with you. I love getting to spend time with a fellow princess.” You swung your braid over your shoulder and the sweet scent of the fresh flowers filled the air. “You can have as many as you like.”

It took all your concentration not to look at Max when that was what you really wanted to do, especially when he knelt beside you and helped Penelope to choose which flowers to take. His arm brushed against yours and you nearly lost your balance from the deep breath you took of his mouth watering cologne.

Eventually she was happy with the dozen bright blossoms she cradled in her arms and thanked you before rushing to take them back to her mother. “Come on, Maxie!” she called without looking back to see if he was following.

He rose with a sigh and you hissed as your head was tugged sharply by the pins. “Shit, sorry,” he murmured as he saw his watch had got caught in the braid. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, it actually happens more often than you would think.” You rubbed the back of your head where the pain was worst and double checked the birthday girl was gone. “I’m Y/N.”

He repeated it with a smile as he slipped the watch off his wrist to use both hands to untangle it from the golden threads. “Would you let me take you to dinner to apologise properly?”

If you were wearing your microphone it probably would have picked up the sound of your heart from how quickly it started pumping. There was no denying this attraction between you and you could see he was equally affected by it too.

“No, I told you it’s alright,” you started, taking his hand when his shoulder slumped crestfallen. “But, you can buy me dinner if you want to make it a date?”

A bright smile broke across his face and you couldn’t help smiling back knowing it was because of you. “Tonight?”

You nodded as you reached into the hidden pocket in the dress and passed him your phone to enter his number before he sent himself a message to get yours. “You might not recognise me without all this,” you joked as you started to pull the pins out of the wig and freed your natural hair.

He chuckled and shook his head as he found you even more beautiful than before. “There’s no mistaking those eyes, I would recognise them anywhere.”

[sunshinetomioka]

More Rdr2 modern AU thoughts no "criminality" in this. I just can imagine them living in some sort of commune centered around a ranch. (this was inspired by Dutch talking about the Paris commune) I changed a few ages so it fits more modern society and like most of them don't really have exact ages. Some aren't as fleshed out as the others but it's not cuz I like them less or more.

Hosea(55) : was the one who bought the ranch with Bessie then slowly Dutch, Arthur and John came to live here too. When she sadly passed away he was glad they were here. Him and Bessie were a foster home, which is how Arthur and John met them. He sees Abigail as the daughter he and Bessie would have had and therefore think of Jack as his grandson. Bessie and him were teachers in primary school.

Dutch (45): got elected mayor of the commune somehow, it doesn't actually do anything but feeds his need of power so it's cool. He is the one talking to the law and intruder most of the time if there's a problem, can't deny he has a way with word. Has like 3 accusations of starting a cult. It is unsure how he and Hosea met and when, everyone gets lost with all the stories they tell.

Arthur(36): lived here almost his whole life but can spend months away on some weird roadtrip and then comeback. Learned many different job to help around. Spend his free time either drawing or enjoying nature. Likes shooting competition too. He's chronically ill/ disabled because of tuberculosis, he's doing better than a year ago but the sequel will follow him all his life.

John (26): hated living here at some point, couldn't find anything he was "good enough" at. After taking a self discovery journey (and fleeing the responsibility of being a father this young) he found out he liked herding the cows or sheep. I can't really imagine him and Abigail still being together in a society that doesn't push women to find men like in 1899. I think there would be tension at first but they'd end up sharing "custody" of Jack, after all they live in the same "town" (and Hosea would kill John if he didn't take care of that kid)

Abigail (24): arrived here with luck, mother of Jack she would have probably aborted if she didn't have a pregnancy denial cuz she feels she's too young to be a mother (which she was, she finished high school only a year or two before!) Hosea loves teaching her the rope of the ranch, she is family after all.

Uncle (67): Came at some point, acted like he belonged and never left. Nobody can tell how he arrived. He usually goes into nearby town to buy or sell or... Well avoid work at the commune.

Susan (49): She knew Dutch for a while now and after some health related issues he decided to offer her to live at the ranch, she greatly helped with setting up everything that the commune became.

Bill (31): after getting discharged by the army he couldn't find any places that wanted him, struggled with homelessness for a while until he joined the commune. He's very helpful when it comes to muscle jobs which they clearly lacked when he joined. He probably works on the day outside the commune to make himself some money, it's mostly helping with manual task.

Javier (26): just like in the OG story he got taken in by Dutch, Trelawny somehow managed to help him get documents so he could be legal. He's an aspiring musician.

Karen (24): She was on a roadtrip when she discovered the commune, she stayed for a while before leaving and then returned a year or so later as she couldn't find anything to please her way of living in the rest of society.

Mary-Beth (23): Met Arthur in one of his roadtrip and absolutely fell in love with the stories he told her, she asked if she could join the commune in hope of finding inspiration for her books.

Tilly (21): She got to be in the commune thanks to foster care after losing both her parents. She sort of grew up with John and loves going into the city and meet people, she spends lots of time with Mary-Beth discussing their respective lives. She probably does tik tok videos to explain how they live in the commune. Her, Karen and Mary-Beth probably take Arthur with them when going to protest march and even tho he's not fond of crowds he always come if they ask.

Molly (27): A rich girl who discovered the commune through Tilly's videos. She decided to live there as a way to rebel against her family. Despite her upbringing she loves the place and the people but never shows it.

Lenny (19): studying in the university in the biggest city near the commune, Dutch met him the day he initially got rejected from uni, he said he could use a guy like him once he'd graduate and somehow found a way to have Lenny accepted. Comes in the commune when he's on holidays or to study before exams.

Sadie (30): After losing her husband in a fire she tried to kill herself, thankfully Dutch and Arthur saw her and stopped her. They took her to the commune, she still suffer from depression but is starting to feel like living again. Spend a lot of her time with the animals. She used to live in the ranch her husband inherited.

Charles (28): When he was only a few years old he was separated from his mother, remembering very little of her and her heritage. He was given to his father who became an alcoholic as time passed. He visited a lot of tribe to try and find his heritage, when passing in the region of the commune he met Arthur and they talked for a while as Arthur guided him to the local tribe. He comes from time to time, stay for a while. It's like a second home.

Sean(24): tried to rob them in order to feed himself when Arthur caught him and brought him to Dutch the latter decided Sean could be forgiven by working around in the commune, he hasn't left since then.

Kieran (28): after an incident in the ranch he worked at, Kieran tried to find a new place to live. He first found a job with the O'Driscoll but didn't like it. He accidentally entered the commune and they thought he was a robber. After he explained his situation they let him go and he decided to stay there.

Pearson (38): he takes care of the general store but it isn't really a general store it's more like where everything is centered to make it more accessible to the rest of the commune. He arrived here after hearing about it in a nearby city, thought it might reminds him of his time in the navy.

Swanson (47): Pretty much like in the game Swanson went through a lot and lost his faith, Hosea and Dutch took pity of him and offered to help him find peace again in the commune. After he got better and decided to serve as the clergyman of the group.

Strauss (53): I think that the canon version still work quite well for him, I can see his family being Austrian immigrants in a big city and deciding he should live in a more rural place and that's how he ends up in the commune. He takes care of everything that falls under bookkeeping (be it money, materials or food)

Trelawny (41): doesn't actually live in the commune but he's a long time friend so he comes by often.

Jack (5): everyone's favorite boy, spent his two first years living with Abigail (who was kindly helped by Hosea and sometime Arthur) right now John and Abigail found an agreement and he spent half his time with Abi and the other half with John. They do some activities all together too.

There's probably lots of inaccuraty since I don't live in the US and like unless it's disrespectful I don't really care lol

[ang3lofdivinity]

🎐⋅˚₊‧𝖫𝗈𝗏𝖾’𝗌 𝖠𝗉𝗉𝖾𝗍𝗂𝗍𝖾‧₊˚⋅🐚

Relationship(s) :: Jinx + Calypso!fem!reader

Genre :: Fluff, hurt/comfort

Format :: Story

Warnings :: More Arcane season 2 act 3 spoilers! Some implications of SH (reader), a bit more trauma, happy ending, the gods kinda suck, HOMOSEXUALS FINALLY GET TOGETHER!!/hj, kinda inspired by Jorge’s cut song from Epic “Appetite” along with “Would You Fall In Love With Me Again”, Reader gets better at the end here, READER IS NOT CALYPSO - more so takes her place, possibly suggestive at the end?

A/N :: AHHHH I cannot believe I wrote THIS much that I had to make a new part entirely. But nonetheless, happy holidays everyone! I hope everyone stays safe this year and gets some good stuff nevertheless of what you’re celebrating! (Side note: ..Should I turn this into a series with more parts? I’m gonna hold a poll for when the time comes — which will be right after I post this). I hope this lives up to your expectations everyone!! + HAPPY NEW YEARS!! (W.C: 10.6k)

Ⅰ - Ⅱ - Ⅲ

Jinx does not remember how long it has been since you’ve left. And you can say the same.

You’ve only been hiding away for as long as you possibly could without the bluette finding you before she left you, just like all the others. See, this is why you shouldn’t allow your emotions to gain control over you! They’ll take the things you love the most as you’re left there to cry and mourn over their loss. And this time? You actually allowed yourself to fall for their tricks!! You’re so STUPID, aren’t you? You should’ve known that this would’ve never been able to last.

She is a lost mortal, and you are an imprisoned goddess.

And the ones pulling the strings?

The gods above. For they hold more power over the both of you than you could possibly know. Or do they?

You lay down, cured up into yourself as you cry against the forest floor, everything around disappearing. (At least it felt like it, as you had begun to focus on the fact that you were crying for so long, your throat going sore and your eyes getting all red and puffy).

It’s pathetic of you really, all of this is pathetic.

You should’ve never allowed yourself to grow attached, you should’ve never allowed yourself to open up to Jinx, you should’ve KNEW that this was doomed to happen one day! Nothing can ever go right for you, can it now?

‘So whats the next course of action’, you ask yourself.

To wallow in your sorrow for a bit longer. To allow yourself to bawl your eyes out as Jinx is taken from you.

.

Time has become useless as Jinx stands at the edge of the beach, breathing heavily, her fists clenching and unclenching as she grits her teeth.

Does she always have to mess things up?

Does she always have to be the Jinx?

In the wake of your disappearance, she feels something staring at her.

Upon turning around however, she sees..

Some kind of ball of pure light??

It’s almost blinding as she stares at it, the luminosity making it almost impossible to define the shape of the object. Covering her eyes with an arm while groaning, she speaks up.

“Hello?”

“You’ve had your fun, mortal.” A voice booms, distant yet close, vibrating through the air. Though it doesn’t exactly feel like one singular voice, it feels more like.. thousands. Thousands of voices as they echo and vibrate. Its presence feels heavy, suffocating. As if she’s being strangled.

And as they speak, she knows what this is.

“Your presence here has disrupted the balance. She was meant to suffer, to repent. Not to cling to you.”

Jinx glares, lowering her arm to stare at the thing.

“Balance? Suffering? You’re the ones screwing her up, not me.”

“This is not your concern. Leave this place and let her fate proceed as it was written.” The tone of the voices grows sharper, as if she was going to listen to them.

“Over my dead body.” Jinx spits the words like venom.

The form twists in agitation, and the faint sound of crackling can be heard.

“You defy orders from the gods?”

“Damn right I do.” She huffs as she narrows her eyes at the form before her, nails now digging into the flesh of her palms.

“She’s not your pawn anymore. And if you try to keep me from her, I’ll blow this paradise of yours sky-high! I’ve got enough bombs to make that little heaven of yours look like rubble.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence that lingers after her words are spoke, but shortly after - the form slowly turns smaller and less bright, making Jinx thankful.

“Very well,” they finally relent, voice hollow.

“But know this, mortal: your bond with her cannot last. You will only bring her more pain.”

“And you cannot deny our orders forever. We have more power than you possibly imagine.”

With that, the light travels off elsewhere, leaving Jinx alone once more on the empty shore.

You don’t know how long you’ve been walking, the forest endlessly stretching all around you, the grass brushing against your feet as you continue to walk. The crashing of waves still manages to fill your ears, but it is still not able to keep drowning out the chaotic storm of your own thoughts.

It hurts. All of this hurts.

It shouldn’t, but it does anyway.

Leaving her was the only way, you tell yourself. If she stayed, she would forever hate you - wouldn’t she? There was no chance for either of you, ever. There never truly was.

She is a mortal meandering around without the knowledge that lies in the powers of those she barely knows of.

You drag yourself further away from her and deeper into the forest. You stop momentarily, your chest rising and falling with labored breaths, the tears on your cheeks now cold from the salty air from moments before.

Your mind races with images of Jinx from those very moments, however: her wild eyes, her expression as she looked up at you, the way she’d yelled after you, that vulnerability of hers for just a moment.

You kneel on the grassy floor, clutching your head, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of emotions crashing through you. Your tears drip into the blades of grass below, disappearing instantly, as if the island itself were swallowing your grief.

You try to focus on your resolve—to forget her, to let her go.

But it feels like trying to breathe underwater: suffocating and unnatural.

You take a moment before allowing yourself to fall on your side on the islands grassy floor, tears falling one after the other. The mist seems to grow denser ahead, swirling in unnatural patterns even as you lay on your side. Eventually, you find yourself squinting, unsure if your mind is playing tricks on you or if something, or someone, is moving within it.

Before you can decide, you hear it: a low hum, resonating in your chest like the strum of a string on a rather angelic instrument. The sound is faint, but it pulls at you, compelling you to rise. Against your better judgment, you lift yourself up by your elbows, staring at the mist as it.. contorts into something.

You should turn back, shouldn’t you?

But you don’t.

A soft, distant voice cuts through the silence surrounding you, faint and trembling, as though carried by the wind. At first, you can’t make out the words, but as you lean closer, they grow clearer:

“She’ll come for you.”

The voice isn’t Jinx’s, but it echoes with the same determination, the same desperation. Your breath catches in your throat as you shake your head with a bitter laugh, trying to push the voice away, but it clings to you like a shadow.

“No,” you whisper to yourself.

“She can’t. She won’t.”

But the voice is unrelenting, whispering again and again until it drowns out your thoughts entirely:

“She’ll come for you. She always will.”

A shiver runs down your spine, and slowly, you find yourself laying back down on your side, fluttering your eyes closed as you try to make yourself think of something else — ANYTHING ELSE besides this.

And suddenly, your mind wanders the meeting you had last night:

The evening air hung heavy with a solemn stillness, the kind that pressed against your chest and made every breath feel like a burden.

Nevertheless, you sat alone on the cliff’s edge, the ocean sprawling endlessly before you, its waves gently lapping at the rocks far below. The twilight sky melted into soft hues of lavender and rose, but the beauty of the scene was lost on you. It did not matter, you know. You… you really are a monster, you didn’t deserve to enjoy such beautiful moments.

Your hands trembled as they clutched your knees. Your thoughts churned endlessly, circling back to Jinx—her words, her defiance, and the way she just STARED at you after she’d slapped you.

And just as you were thinking of the incident, the faintest whisper of wind brushed past you, some sort of.. odd feeling of a being you couldn’t describe. However, you didn’t need to turn to know who it was; the soothing hum of magic and the faint scent of jasmine told you everything.

“Janna,” you murmured, your voice soft and weary.

The goddess finally stepped into view, her ethereal form seeming to shimmer like sunlight caught in the folds of silk. Her translucent blue robes flowed as though stirred by an unseen breeze. She truly did look like a goddess in this form, much better than some of her others.

“Dear goddess,” Janna spoke, her voice a gentle melody carried by the wind.

“I’ve come to speak with you about the mortal.”

Your chest IMMEDIATELY tightened, your fingers curling into the fabric of your clothes.

“You mean Jinx?..” you whispered, barely audible.

Janna’s gaze softened as she stepped closer to you. Even with her calming presence, you still had the worst feeling pooling within your stomach as you continued to avert your gaze from her.

“Her presence here has caused… ripples. The other gods are restless. They believe her defiance threatens the balance of this island, and of you.”

You shook your head, sighing.

“She’s not a threat. She—she cares about me. She’s just…” Your voice faltered as you tried to explain, to defend Jinx, but the weight of your own guilt dragged the words down.

“She is bold and unyielding,” Janna interrupted gently, her tone neither condemning nor approving.

“And that is why the gods have decided she must leave. For the sake of the island. For your sake.”

Your heart dropped at those words.

“No,” you said, almost instinctively, your voice trembling.

“She doesn’t have to leave. I can handle this. I—I can fix this—”

“(____).” Janna’s voice was soft yet firm before she let out a soft sigh. She knelt beside you, placing a light hand on your shoulder.

“This isn’t about blame. It’s about what is best for you. For her.”

Tears welled in your eyes as you looked at Janna, your lips trembling.

“I mean.. she already hates me,” you whispered.

“She’ll never forgive me if I send her away, though.”

Janna’s expression remained calm, her gaze filled with an ancient understanding.

“Perhaps. But she will live. And so will you.”

Your hands fell limp at her sides, your gaze dropping to the ground. The weight of Janna’s words settled over her like a storm cloud brewing at the distance of the horizon. And as you thought of the way her sharp edges had softened just for you. And yet…

And yet, your mind returns to your failures, your mistakes.

“I’ve done terrible things,” You whispered, your voice barely audible once again.

“Hurt people. Hurt her. She deserves better than this.” You swallowed hard, closing your eyes against the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

“Maybe… maybe the gods are right. Maybe she should leave. It’s for the best.”

Janna’s gaze lingered on you for a moment, as though searching for the truth in your words. Finally, the goddess rose from beside you, hands folded behind her back.

“The choice is yours, Dear Goddess. But know this: love is not something the gods take lightly. What you share with her is rare… precious. Do not cast it aside without understanding the weight of what you will lose.”

With that, Janna turned and began to fade into the soft hues of the twilight, her presence dispersing like mist on the wind.

You remained seated, your shoulders hunched as silent tears traced paths down your cheeks.

Jinx would be better off far from her, far from the island and its burdens, wouldn’t she?

And yet, as the stars began to dot the sky above, a small voice within you whispered that she was breaking something she could never truly repair.

A warm liquid trickles down your cheek.

As you reach up, you realize it's a tear.

Ah, you didn’t even realize it.

You let out a small bitter laugh, falling back down on your side before your shifted, now looking up at the midnight sky above you.

So beautiful..

But beauty cannot erase the pain that all of these actions have caused.

And so, now you find yourself slipping in and out of consciousness - eyes fluttering every once in a while.

It takes you a while, but slumber finally finds you, and you have one of the most terrible nights of rest ever.

Days, or maybe even weeks, pass in silence on the island once more much to Jinx’s displeasure. You’ve both done this so many times, it’s gotten annoying. But she cannot find you anywhere she looks as desperate as she tries, though remains stubbornly on the island, refusing to give up on you. To waste the time, she spends hours tinkering with gadgets or staring out at the ocean, muttering curses at the gods under her breath.

Then one evening, as the sun bleeds crimson into the horizon, you finally return. You’re quiet and pale, all of your happiness dulled, as though the island itself has leeched off of your energy.

And Jinx doesn’t waste a second upon seeing you enter the walk closer to her near the shore.

“Trinket.” She stands up, heart pounding as she approaches cautiously.

You avert your gaze from her, taking a shaky deep breath.

“You should’ve left.”

“Not gonna happen.” Jinx steps closer, her voice softening.

“You’re not alone anymore. I told you I’m not leaving.”

You shake your head, tears already welling in your eyes.

“Why do you keep fighting for me? I’m broken. I’ve ruined everything. Besides, if you stay here.. you’ll never be able to see the outside world again!”

Jinx stops just inches from her and cups your cheek—this time, her touch is gentle, her fingers lingering where they’d once struck you.

“You’re not broken, Angel. You’re just scared. Same as me.”

You look up, startled by the tenderness in Jinx’s voice.

“I said things I didn’t mean. I know messed up.” Jinx’s voice catches, something you might’ve not noticed if you weren’t paying so much attention to each of her words.

“But you’re the only person who’s ever made me feel like I’m not some lost cause, that I'm worth fighting for. So if you think I’m giving that up- giving you up? You’re dumber than you look.”

A tear slips down your cheek as you laugh faintly, a small smile gracing your lips.

“You always have a way with words, Pixie, don’t you?” Jinx grins at the small comment before chuckling herself.

“Yeah, yeah. Just shut up and let me fix this.”

You hesitate for a moment before falling into Jinx’s arms. For the first time in what feels like centuries, you let yourself believe, just a little, that you’re not alone anymore.

Jinx holds you impossibly close, feeling the weight of your trembling shoulders against her own. For a long moment, neither of you speak. The quiet is only broken by the rhythm of the waves against the shore nearby.

The last light of the sun bathes the two of you in hues of gold and crimson, as if the world itself were holding its breath for you both.

Jinx pulls back just enough to meet your gaze. She wipes away the tear on your cheek with her thumb, her hand lingering there for a second longer than necessary.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, trinket.” Her voice is quieter now, lacking its usual sharp edges that she spoke so casually with usually.

“You can try to push me away, yell at me, slap me if you want, but I’m staying here. Because I want to. Because you… mean something to me.”

Your lips part as though to say something, but no words come out. Your heart feels as though it’s caught in your throat, something warm pooling within your chest as you stare at her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Jinx murmurs with a faint, nervous grin.

“Like I’m saying something stupid..”

You shake your head quickly, your hands gripping the front of Jinx’s top, as though afraid to let go - that if you did, she’d disappear.

“You’re not. You’re… you’re really not.” Your voice is barely above a whisper.

Jinx’s grin falters as she leans closer, searching your eyes for any trace of doubt.

“I don’t care what the gods say. I don’t care about whatever twisted plans they have for you. You’re mine, Angel. And I…” She hesitates for the first time, the words heavy on her tongue. She’s scared.

But..

“I love you.”

You freeze, your breath hitching while your eyes widen at the bluette’s words.

Jinx laughs nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

“There. I said it. Now you can—”

“You love me?” You cut her off, your voice wavering as you say each syllable. Your expression is something more akin to joy.

Genuine and authentic joy.

Something you haven’t allowed yourself to feel in so long.

Jinx smirks faintly at you.

“Yeah, I do. And don’t you dare make me say it again.”

You laugh through your tears, and you quickly cup Jinx’s face with both hands. And this time? Your touch is soft, steady, and filled with the tenderness as the words the woman before you had just spoken.

“You’re not the only one who’s afraid,” you admit, your own voice shaking. But neither of you seem to mind.

“Jinx… I love you too. I think I always have. From the moment you washed ashore, even with how weird that sounds.”

Jinx blinks, her breath catching at the words before her lips curl into a soft, genuine smile.

“Well, would you look at that? Guess we’re both messed up, huh?”

“I guess so.” You take a deep breath, grinning with delight.

Jinx chuckles softly as your hands slide to her shoulders, pulling her closer. Neither of you hesitates this time. And your lips meet in a kiss. It’s soft and tender, something you wish could last forever. The ocean wind seems to still for the moments as you both are too immersed within the kiss, hell— it feels like everything has just stopped entirely, and that it’s just the both of you here.

When you both finally pull back, Jinx grins, her forehead resting against your own.

“Took us long enough, didn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter how long it took. You’re here now.” You replied, gently booping her nose as you smile wider.

and she gets an.. idea.

“One more, then? I think my appetite has grown for more than just some food tonight.” Jinx smirks, pulling you closer to her by your hips

You find yourself giggling before you nod, capturing her lips in a kiss once more.

The gods watch in silence from their unseen perch, all coalesced together as they stare down at you both.

Who would’ve known that sheer love for one another could foil their plans?

“I think they’re quite cute together!” One exclaims, before quickly being nudged by another god

“Still. She’s meant to suffer, not find LOVE!” The god yelps, hands on their hips.

“What do we even do?” Another asks with a soft tone, fidgeting with their fingers.

Silence overpowers the perch before whispers begin to spread from all around, gods talking amongst themselves of what to do before one raises a hand, causing all of the ones around them immediately silence, listening to what the figure had to say.

“We sit and watch for now. If anything needs to happen, however..” They pause for a mere second before continuing.

“We’ll be sure to take care of it.”

Calypso!Reader and Jinx masterlist

[silassinclair]

hiiii💙💙💙

i just have a request about Maddox but i want to start with saying english is not my first language and secondly i LOVE your writings, they are sooo good like i just read them again and again and again......

so about my request, its like a story but i just hope you will understand what im trying say

So darling and him while running away from the law Maddox face some other outlaws or having a duel he gets shot, some bad wounds or whatever and darling has no choice but runaway. Before running away darling says that she loves him and will wait for him, something like that.

After two years darling and Maddox meet again (can be when he is leaving a saloon or when he is stealong from the people on the road who is just moving from town to another town) Darling doing really great, she has a small but cute house, she has a great job paying her greatly BUT darling carrying a child

BIG SUPRISE its his child

Yes!

When darling was runing away she was pregnant but didnt tell him cuz she was afraid of his reaction

Anyway him and darling talk about what happened after she runaway, how she manages to live, about the child

so the thing is how he will react about all of this, i mean he has a child and a cute house he can live with darling but he has to run from the laws. Would he somehow live with darling or will he take darling and his child with him and keep runing

I know its long but i tried so hard to make it short and i hope you undertand it AND if you want you can ignore it

💙🤍 I LOVE YOU 💙🤍

UWWAAHH THIS IS SO CUTE <3 I’m about to cook so hard with this one ya’ll aren’t ready 🥶

Masterlist Here!!

Yandere Wild West Outlaw x Long Lost Lover Reader

CW// Pregnancy, Gun Violence, Blood, Suicide Mention, Maddox kills pedophiles, Pedophilic comments

“Shhh! Just stop! Stop talking!” Y/n wept as her s/c hand put pressure over Maddox’s oozing bullet wound. Her skin was stained with his crimson blood. The whole world was collapsing down on her. Maddox, her husband, was dying. He was losing so much blood and those damn bounty hunters were getting closer.

Coming to this town was a mistake. It was a fucking trap and they walked right into it. It was a false rumor spread to lure Maddox to the bank. It was supposed to be unguarded; and instead of cash and gold in the vault there was a lethal group of bounty hunters unloading their bullets in a barrage right at Maddox.

The masked outlaw coughed, hacking up some blood. Y/n and Maddox were lucky to get away. Using all her strength she pulled his body into a neighboring saloon and hid with him behind the bar. The outlaw's tearing brown eyes looked into Y/n’s with a mixture of emotion. Adoration and despair. Because he knew this will be the last time will ever see her again.

“Sweetheart, princess please look at me..” He utters. Y/n can barely hear him over the gunshots and screams from around. But her ears are honed to only listen to his voice at the moment. He is all she sees and hears.

“Untie my bandana… Use it to pack the wound.” The paling man says.

Her eyes widen at his request. Her and Maddox have been in so many life or death situations. All of them they have escaped narrowly. Maddox has had mortal wounds, he’s bled countless times over the years. But never, never has he taken that bandana off. Even when they kissed he would tell her to shut her eyes and she would obey, respecting his privacy. When they made love the lights would be off or she would be blindfolded. His face was a mystery that she always wanted to solve.

She imagined the say he showed her his face they would be watching a sunset. Or maybe laying underneath the star in a romantic setting. But now… It’s different. She doesn't want to see him. Not now, not like this. He was dying and this was a desperate attempt to extend his life. This was the end.

“Maddox…” Y/n sniffles. Her vision blurs as tears cascade down her cheeks. She knows this is the end for them. She can feel it.

The woman’s hands go behind his head as she shakily unties the burgundy bandana. And when she takes it off what she sees has her crying even harder.

He’s gorgeous. This is the face of her husband.

“Why Maddox? Why does the first time I have to see you also have to be the last?” Her voice cracks as she stuffs the wound with the bandana.

He smiles and for the first time she can see it. His cracked lips, stubble of facial hair, his crooked nose from being broken so many times, and the scar above his top lip.

“I love ya’ Y/n.” Is all he says in reply. His hand comes up to cradle her cheek. “I need you to do one last thing for me..” He takes her hands in his one hand as the other holds the cloth to his wound.

“Anything… I’ll do anything for you.”

“Run far away baby… Run away from here and don’t look back. Don’t come back for me.” Maddox peeks over top the bar counter they’re and sees the bounty hunters about to enter the saloon they’re hiding in.

Y/n bites her lip as she shakes her head back and forth. “I’m not leaving you! I can’t! You can’t die, I need you! You’re..”

Y/n freezes. She wants to say it but she can’t. Not now, not when he’s going to die.

“You’re going to be a Father.”

“Y/n.” Maddox smiles. “Jasper should be outside. Get on him and get outta this town.” He brings his lips to her hand, kissing her blood stained skin.

The sobbing woman can’t bring herself to move away from him. If she leaves she will never see him again. But she has to leave, she has to survive and save their baby. It’s what he would want.

“I love you.” Y/n pulls him into a passionate kiss. One which he returns as he tries not to wince in pain.

Maddox is the first to pull away for the first time. And it only breaks her heart even more.

“Now go princess… Go live ya’ life to the fullest. And I’m… I’m sorry for killin’ your old man back then…”

Y/n stands up silently and nods. So after a full year he finally apologizes. Honestly, Y/n forgave him long ago. Was it Stockholm syndrome? Was it love? It didn't matter, her love for Maddox was true. But now he was dying... If she turns around and faces him now she’ll never want to leave.

Without facing him she lets her tears fall and hands form fists, “Goodbye Maddox. And I forgave you long ago. Back when I fell in love with you for the first time.”

She runs to the back of the saloon and leaves out the back entrance. Once the woman is outside she hears shouts from inside, along with gunfire.

“NOOO!” She screams and clenches her hair in her fists. Her vocal cords strain from her guttural scream. The pain of losing Maddox feels unbearable. She can’t feel her legs, so she drops to the dirt ground. All she can do is cry and curl up alone. The trotting sound of a horse is heard from above. Looking up she sees Jasper, Maddox’s loyal horse and best friend.

“Jasper…” She weeps. The horse looks down at his owners lover with sympathy behind his dark eyes. The animal can tell she’s in pain. He neighs and uses his nose to nudge her.

“L-Let’s go bud.” Y/n says and stands up from the ground. She gets on Jasper’s saddle and rides out of town, leaving behind the painful memories of losing Maddox. The ring on her finger has never felt so heavy.

"I help! Rosie help Mommy!" A small two year old girl says as her chubby little hands reach out towards Y/n who is carrying a pail of milk.

Y/n Graves; widow and single Mother, smiles down at her daughter. When she lost the love of her life she gave birth to a new meaning to go on. When Maddox died Y/n felt alone. She contemplated ending the pain permanently but she knew she could never do that to him and their baby. So she lived, and thank the lord she did.

The past two years were hard. Being pregnant, working a job, finding a place to live, and raising a newborn all by herself. Life was hard but that's just how it is. Being a Mother is a sacrifice that Y/n took the day she decided to keep on living after Maddox's death.

Now she has a beautiful baby girl. And her resemblance to him brought tears to the Mother's eyes.

She has his dark brown hair that almost looks black and his brown eyes that Y/n would find herself lost in. At the young age of two and a half Rosie even knew how to speak and understand English. She has her Mother's smarts and her Daddy's looks.

Rosie was a gift from Maddox, a parting gift so she wouldn't have to be alone anymore. Just thinking about how she almost killed herself and Rosie destroyed Y/n. The thoughts she had during those dark times were regrettable. She hates herself for possibly thinking such things.

"Mommy? Why sad?"

Y/n blinks a few times and doesn't even realize she was crying. Rosie tugs on her Mother's dress, big brown doe eyes creased with worry. Giggling, she wipes her tears and puts the heavy pail down. She reaches for her daughter and picks her up and holds her instead.

"Because you look just like your Daddy princess. You remind me of him and I miss him a lot." Y/n kisses Rosie's cheeks, making the little girl squeal and kick her little legs.

"Now let's finish up our chores yeah? We need to get this milk to a cool place." Y/n reaches down and grabs the pail to take it to the cellar.

"I carry it Mommy!" Rosie pouts and reaches her arms towards the pail in Y/n's hand. But the woman only laughs softly at her daughter's antics.

"It's too heavy for you baby. Besides, princesses don't do chores like this yet. Rosie's only job for now is too behave and listen to Mommy."

The little girl pauses and leans her head on her Mother's shoulder. "Okay.." She mumbles.

Sensing her daughter's sadness Y/n decides to compromise. "How about we go into town and get ice cream?"

In an instant the little girl perks up. "Really?!" She says in her baby accent; unable to pronounce the 'R' well and instead it coming out more as a 'W'.

"Yes princess. You've been good all this week so you deserve a treat."

Y/n finishes her work in the cellar with the help of her daughter. Who really was just following her around and pointing at stuff, asking what each thing was. But now that everything was done Y/n rode into town on Jasper and her daughter on her lap.

It wasn't often that the single Mother came into town. Every time she was there she could feel the stares on her and her daughter when she did bring her. And she knew why. She has a daughter yet no husband. Y/n knows what the townspeople say behind her back. Calling her a whore, trollop, and an ex prostitute. But nobody knew jack shit about her. They were all making assumptions. They didn't know her life and the pain she's been through.

Not only that but being in town just felt unsafe. The hungry stares of the men made her feel nauseous, which was why she always carried a double barrel shot gun on her back. It was her own way of silently saying "Don't fuck with me and my daughter."

Y/n tugs on the reins a little and Jasper stops in front of the ice cream parlor. She gets off of Jasper and little Rosie clings to her Mother's back as she fastens the reins to the wooden pole.

"We won't be long bud. Come on princess, let's go."

Y/n pets Jasper on the head before holding her daughters hand and taking her into the parlor. Once inside the conversation around them immediately dies down as all the patron's eyes are on Y/n and her daughter; who goes to hide behind her Mother's leg.

"Why staring Mommy?" The little girl asks. Y/n pats her hair and answers back with a reassuring smile.

"They just think your dress is pretty and can't help but look at it."

Rosie grins and giggles, her cheeks pinkening with blush.

"Now let's go get ice cream yeah? What flavor do you want?"

"Strawberry!"

Since we're in town I may as well grab a few things so I won't have to come back. After finishing our ice cream I take Rosie with me to the hardware store across the street. While in there I grab a few things from the shelves. Life shot gun shells, a new steel file, and soap.

I go up to the clerk and put my things on the counter. The old man looks at me with his usual unimpressed look, just like how any other person in this miserable town looks at me.

"Will this be all?" He asks. I nod silently and hand him the appropriate amount of cash. After bagging my things he hands me my change and I grab the paper bag.

"Come on Rosie, let's go." I say and look down by my side at Rosie. But instead of my daughter I see the hardwood floor. My heart drops to my feet.

"Rosie?" I say again and perk up, looking around the store and down the aisles. Briskly walking to the store clerk I place my things back on the counter.

"Can you watch my bag? I need to find my daughter."

The old man nods with a grunt and opens up a newspaper. I ignore his careless attitude and I practically search the whole store for Rosie. Where the hell did she go? She was right next to me! I took my eyes off her for one second and this is what happens to me? I'm a horrible Mother.

Running outside the store I approach the first person I see. A blonde woman with a green dress and matching lace parasol.

"Excuse me? Have you seen my daughter? She's about this tall and has dark brown hair. She's also wearing a white dress." My words pour out of my mouth so fast that even I can barely understand what I'm saying. But the woman only shrugs.

"I do not know. Maybe you should keep a better eye on your child and you never would have lost her."

I glare at the prissy bitch and shoulder check her as I strut past her to ask the next person if they have seen Rosie.

"I can already see the potential in her Davis. Look at those beady little eyes. She'll be beggin' to suck cock in no time."

Rosie is shaking in fear, the poor girl has no idea what's going on. One minute she was in the hardware store looking at shiny things on the shelf, the next a hand was clamped over her mouth and she was being dragged outside the back entrance. She tried to scream but the hand over her mouth was too big. She tried to fight but her body was too small and weak.

There are three men standing above her. What they are talking about? She doesn't know. But her Mother taught her that strangers were dangerous. So their intentions were bad; these men were bad news. They had her tied up and gagged, her shivering body laid curled up on the ground as she silently sniffled.

"We'll take her to Alabama. She'll go for a hefty price there. I know a guy who likes em' younger." One of the men says. The same man hacks up mucus and spits in out on the ground right next to Rosie. Making the girl whine and cry even more.

"Quit your fuckin' cryin' or I oughta' give ya' somethin' to cry bout'" The scrawniest man of the group says. But his loud voice only makes the two year old cry more.

"Fucking hell, people will hear if she keeps this shit up. Someone hit her in the back of the head an' knock her lights out."

"She looks no older than two Marty. That'll kill her you dumb oaf!"

"Then wha do we do?"

The three men bicker back and forth. Arguing about how to silence the little girl. But as the three criminals argue they don't hear the approach of footsteps. It isn't until the girl stops crying that they turn around. A man with his faced covered by a bandana has Rosie in his arms. His brown cowboy hat is tilted low, casting a dark shadow over his eyes.

"Who the fuck are you?! Put her down!" The biggest man of the trio says. He reaches for his gun but the mysterious man tuts and wags his gloved index finger back and forth at the criminal.

"I wouldn't do that if I were ya' big guy." The man holding Rosie says in his smooth, accented southern drawl. The little girl is scared stiff as she clings to the man holding her. She doesn't know what it is about this stranger but he makes her feel safe unlike the three men who made her cry.

"Don't tell us what to do. There's three of us and one of you, we oughta fill you full of lead and piss on your corpse for thinkin' you can FUCK with us!" The scrawny man draws his gun and aims it right at the masked man's head.

Rosie cries and hides her face in the stranger's neck. He rubs her back and reassures her with a gentle coo.

"You'll be okay, just trust me alright? I'll get ya back to ya Momma and Poppa."

Rosie doesn't understand what he said, but she does understand that this stranger is protecting her.

"Keep your eyes closed honey, can you do that for me?"

Rosie shuts her eyes and holds onto him tighter. Beneath his dirty red bandana the man smiles. Then he looks back at the three scum bags in front of him. He heard everything they said about the girl. All of the disgusting things about how she had "potential" and wanting to sell her.

Men like them didn't deserve to live.

"Hand over the brat you fuck-"

The masked man draws his silver revolver in the blink of an eye and cocks back the hammer. He shoots the scrawny man right between the eyes. Rosie cries out at the loud burst of gunfire but he shushes her gently as he cocks back the hammer another two times and shoots the other two men dead before they can even draw their guns or speak. The three bodies lay stark still on the ground. The life from their eyes is gone as blood pools from each of their heads.

"Burn in hell ya' nasty bastards." The mystery man walks away from the scene to go somewhere safer, the little girl still in his arms. She has her hands over her ears because of how loud the three gunshots were. But with a pat on her head from the man she lowers her hands and looks up at him.

"It's over honey. Those bad men won't touch ya' ever again." He says and sits against a tree a little bit outside of town. The little girl sits crisscross applesauce on his lap. Her chubby little hands rest on her thighs as she stares at him.

The man reaches behind her head and unties the rag around her face. Those men treated her like livestock. If not worse. Abducting a little girl and tying her up like cattle? How disgusting. Men like that didn't deserve to see the light of day.

"What's your name little girl?" He asks her. Rosie sniffles and rubs her puffy eyes.

"R-Rosie.." She stutters, still shocked from the whole ordeal.

"Hey now, no need to be scared anymore okay? I won't harm a hair on your head. And your name is really pretty. Matches ya' rosy lil cheeks." He pinches her plush cheek, making the girl smile.

"Name?" Rosie says and pokes the man's chest with a little finger.

"Maddox. Maddox Graves."

Rosie only nods. Maddox can still tell she's scared. So he asks her some questions to get her mind off things.

"How old are you?"

"Two and half."

"You got a family?"

"I have Mommy!"

"Got a Daddy?"

"Mommy said Daddy in heaven."

Maddox sighs when the girl says she doesn't have a Father. Growing up Maddox didn't have a Father figure either. He only had his Mother who worked tooth and nail to provide for him when he was younger. It was a shame she died of tuberculosis. He was only 16 when she passed. And after her death he was born a new man. When his Mother died so did Manuel Gonsalez. And he was reborn Maddox Graves, the west's most feared gunslinger and outlaw.

"My Daddy's in heaven too Rosie. But my Daddy was a bad man, he had it comin' to him."

Rosie looks at Maddox with a sympathetic expression. Though she couldn't see his face she could see his eyes under the shadow of his hat. He seemed... hurt.

"Married?" Rosie asks him. She sees his eyes crease. He's smiling.

"Yeah, to the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Where she?"

"I don't know honey. I'm looking for her. I hope I find her.."

Maddox stiffles a gasp when the little girl suddenly hugs him. Her little arms go around his neck. It's been years since he was last shown any affection. the last person to give him a hug was Y/n. This little girl just had no idea how much her warm embrace meant to the man. He hugs her back and shuts his eyes, letting his years long guard down. Maddox parts from the hug and pats Rosie's head.

Maddox goes to ask the girl another question but the feeling of a cold hard object on the back of his head makes him pause. The outlaw doesn't flinch at the familiar feeling of a barrel of a gun being pressed against his head.

"You have three seconds to get your filthy hands off my little girl." Y/n growls out, her finger on the trigger of her double barrel shotgun. But Maddox feels his heart skip a beat when he hears the little girl's Mother's voice. How badly he wants to turn around and confirm his suspicion. But the slightest movement on his behalf may result in his brains being splattered onto the grass.

"Mommy!" Rosie squeals and jumps off Maddox's lap, making him wheeze and cradle his gut.

Rosie runs to Y/n and hugs her leg. Tears form in the eyes of the distressed Mother. She drops her gun and falls to her knees to embrace her daughter in return, completely forgetting about the man.

"Oh princess you had me worried sick! What happened?! Who is this man? Did he hurt you?"

Rosie shakes her head back in forth and parts from the hug. "He saved me Mommy! From bad men!"

Y/n feels her heart squeeze in pain. She couldn't even protect her own daughter, let alone keep an eye on her. Instead a stranger had to save her. Speaking of the stranger, Y/n looks up and sees the man standing above her and her daughter. They make eye contact and the man's brown eyes widen as Y/n's lips part. Something about him is familiar.

"Thank you for-"

"Princess?" He says in utter disbelief.

Y/n feels her words get caught in her throat at the oh so familiar pet name. Only one man has ever called her that.

"Maddox?"

The outlaw removes his bandana. A scar, stubble, and crooked nose. The same face Y/n saw before she ran out of that saloon years ago. He drops to his knees and pulls his wife into a tight embrace. His long search for his wife has finally come to an end.

"My wife, my beautiful beautiful wife. Mmm I was searching every end of the country for you. I thought you were gone forever." Maddox buries his face into her neck and inhales her familiar lavender scent. Even her skin has the same softness it had years ago.

Y/n though, is silent. She doesn't return the embrace her long lost husband gives her. Her mind and heart are racing. It's like she's witnessing a paranormal encounter with a ghost. If this is a trick then it is a cruel one. That wound should have killed him. But no, he survived and came back to her. After about three years he returns looking more alive than ever.

"I thought you died..." Y/n utters softly. Her eyes are wide with shock as tears form from her tear ducts. Hesitantly, she hugs him back. Arms moving slowly up his back she rests her hands on the blades of his shoulders and sinks her body into his. The two are like snakes, their bodies constricting and melting into each others warmth.

"I got you sweetheart, I got you. Just let it out princess. Everything's gonna be okay." Maddox soothingly coos and rubs her back as her tears finally fall. A shrill cry leaves the depths of Y/n's soul. Her hands grip the fabric of his jacket. She's afraid if she let's go he'll die again.

But no. He never died. He survived, and he's here in her arms. All her sacrifices have led her to this moment. In the end, living was worth it.

"Mommy?"

Y/n blinks the tears from her eyes and looks to her daughter who stands there with the hem of her dress in her tiny fists. The little girl looks like she wants to cry too.

"Why crying?" She asks in a wobblily tone. Y/n smiles and pulls her daughter in with her and Maddox's embrace.

"Mommy's just happy that Daddy came back from heaven."

Rosie's brown eyes light up with wonder. The man who saved her is her Father? She opens her arms as wide as she can and hugs Maddox with all her two year old might. However Maddox is frozen.

"She's... she's mine?" He whispers.

Y/n nods. "Mhm... I had her eight months after I ran out of that saloon. She's about to turn three."

Maddox's jaw is on the floor. Not only has he found his wife but he has a little girl too? His heart hurts at the thought of Y/n going through the pain of pregnancy and childbirth all alone. The outlaw looks down at the little girl. And he looks to Y/n for silent permission and she nods with a light chuckle.

"She's your daughter, you can hug her silly."

And with that the Father hugs his little girl close to his chest. He doesn't even know that he's crying right now. And he doesn't care, all he cares about are his two girls right in front of him. Nothing matters anymore except for this. He isn't going to run anymore, he's tired of running. Running is what made him lose everything in the first place. Running is how he lost Y/n. And he never wants to lose his wife again. Especially not when he has a daughter too.

It's time to settle down and raise his family. Maddox never considered having a family before, let alone no longer being an active criminal. But for Y/n? He'd walk on glass through the depths of hell.

"I'm never leaving you alone ever again, you hear me?" He says in a firm tone to Y/n, his eyes piercing into her own. "We're gonna be a family. No more running baby, I promise."

He pulls his wife in by the back of her neck and kisses her passionately. This moment was one he would photograph into his memory; his daughter in his arms and his lips on his wife's.

Being a Father was NOT something Maddox thought he would ever be. Hell, he’s Maddox fucking Graves, the most threatening man in the west. A guy like him raising a kid? Yeah it’s unimaginable.

He’ll never admit it but fatherhood scares him. And nothing scares him (well except for losing Y/n again.) because he’s just that damn tough! Or so he thought.

Rosie is a little bundle of joy. She’s smart, funny, and damn fast. Too fast.

How did Y/n raise her all on her own!? It’s like the girl wants to die or something because why is she always getting into shit!?

“Rose! Get ya’ little mitts out of the knife drawer!”

“Hey! Jesus Christ kid you’re gonna kill yourself if you get too close to the edge of that cliff!”

“You’re giving Daddy a heart attack sweet pea. I just got ya, ya can’t leave me yet.”

Y/n has been through so much so he never asks her for help when it comes to little Rosie. He can figure it all out on his own no problem. Maddox is a man so he’s the tough guy of the house. There isn’t anything Y/n can do that he can’t do.

However…

“Y/n! Rosie done gone and crapped herself!”

Loves kissing Rosie’s cheeks. They’re so chubby! Maddox is so happy that his little girl is healthy and happy.

Rosie may have his looks but she has her Mommy’s smile and attitude. It’s adorable.

Now back to Maddox and Y/n…

They’ve been separated for nearly three years. So their relationship dynamic has changed a little bit.

No more lone wolf outlaw Maddox. No, he’s putty in his wife’s hand. Meanwhile Y/n has grown more independent over the years having raised Rosie and gotten a job all by herself.

Maddox needs her by his side 24/7. He’ll get grumpy at the idea of her leaving. He doesn’t want a repeat of the past either. Just the thought of Y/n not being within his vicinity makes him worry.

“I gotta go into town and grab some food.”

“Huh? Why’s that? We gotta garden princess! Whatchu need food from there for when we have all that we need here?”

Don’t think for a second that Maddox isn’t a yandere anymore just because he’s a girl Dad now. Nope, nada, zilch.

He won’t hesitate to kill anyone who poses as a threat to his family.

Maddox was crazy for Y/n before but now he’s outright insane. He’s just really good at hiding it. And he’s also insanely over protective of Rosie.

“I was thinking, maybe we can send Rosie to the school house when she turns th-”

“Absolutely not.”

“Huh? Why not? She needs an education Maddox.”

“I will not have my daughter be around those nasty town boys. No way in fuckin’ hell is that happening. We’ll home school her.”

“Aww you’re so cute when you’re protective!”

In the end Maddox ended up enrolling Rosie into school later on because he had no idea how to explain Mathematics to her.

MAN this was a long one. Sorry for any grammar mistakes, my phone buggy as hell 😩

[ladyescapism]

Body Worship

summary: Mor and her mate spend some quality time together after Mor neglects her for too long.

a/n: If you saw my snippet earlier, then here is the rest of the story. This idea is over a year in the making, with me picking it up, putting it down, changing things over and over until now I have something that I am happy with.

wc: 1,200

masterlist -- part two

warnings: smut, female x female relationship, light Dom/sub dynamic, pet names (pet, sweet girl), oral (fem receiving), fingering (fem receiving), light begging, light praise kink

Minors - Do Not Interact

~ ~ ~

“Please please please”, you begged. 

Mor towered over your kneeling form, the apex of her thighs mere inches from your face. The scent of her arousal flowed together with yours. Your bedroom smelled as if it was some den of holy worship of the female body – the work done by the worst of sinners. 

Despite the cushion of the large bed you shared with Mor, the ache in your hips and knees from the position grew with every second that passed. However, that wouldn’t matter one lick to Mor right now. You were in her favorite pose: ass on your feet, hands behind your back, knees wide enough that she could see all of you but not enough that you could grind your needy pussy on any surface before she gave you permission. 

You played with fire all day. You brought this situation upon yourself entirely. Teasing your wonderful, dominate mate all day would get you into deep trouble. The only way out was to appeal to her primal senses. The sight of you, perfectly positioned ready to plead for her forgiveness couldn’t hurt your case. 

Mor truly was busy with meetings, paperwork, and such. She would never neglect you on purpose. You knew that she couldn’t bring herself to fully shut down the bond with you, and you used that to your full advantage as she worked.  

Your sensual mate moved out of you direct line of view. Looking to the mirror, you watched as she lowered herself behind you. She moved her eyes over your face, heaving breasts, finally settling on your parted thighs. 

“My poor baby,” she whispered into your ear. “All worked up over me.” 

She punctuated the sentence by pinching one of your nipples. You went reeling into Mor’s chest with the shock. You could feel her breasts pushing into your back, the warm fullness with tightened nipples. 

“So beautiful,” she murmured as the other hand roamed all over your body, covering your tummy, hips, and thighs, narrowly avoiding giving attention to the one place you craved. 

“Can’t handle a little tease, pet,’ she said through gritted teeth. “Now you know what I had to put up with all day.” 

Her words were harsh - harsher than usual. She must have been really pissed to speak to you like this. 

“I just needed you so badly,” you whispered. “You’ve hardly been home all week.”

You watched as some tension eased from her shoulders. Mor knew that you had been neglected these past few days.  

“I’m sorry if I distracted you from something important,” you said sadly. “I just, I needed you.”

Mor brought a hand to your chin and tiled your head all the way back, forcing you to look up into her warm brown eyes. “Nothing is more important than you,” she said with a gentle kiss to your forehead. 

Distracted by looking into her warm, brown eyes, you truly didn’t notice that her hand had drifted to your aching cunt. You sucked in a sudden breath when her fingers made contact. Her cold skin sent shivers up your spine as she dragged her fingers through your wetness and circled your clit. 

You gasped and writhed with her ministrations, still with your face tilted back so she could watch your facial expressions as she touched you. 

“What do you want, sweet girl?” Mor crooned. 

“You, gods, always you.” Panting, you shifted to make more contact between your bodies. 

Reluctantly, Mor pulled away, eliciting a frustrated grunt from you. 

“Quit whining like a hound and listen to me,” she commanded. “You had me worked up all day, pet.”

The bed shifted with her weight as she laid on the bed, exposing her beautiful pussy to the afternoon sunlight. The wetness glistened against her pink and swollen flesh. 

“While you’ve been here, enjoying the weekend, and getting yourself off without permission,” Mor ran her slender foot up and down the length of your thigh. “I’ve been stuck at work, trying to hide my scent and push thoughts of you to the side.” 

You had the good sense to be a little nervous at the devilish glint in her eye. 

“So, I think it’s only fair that I get some attention first.”

With that, her legs widened, and you needed no further instruction. You eased from your seat, positioning yourself to drink from Mor until you could no longer breathe.

To die at the hands of this Goddess would be one thing – to die at her thighs is entirely another. 

You started by delicately running your tongue up her folds, circling her clit, and back down again. Silent satisfaction rose in your chest at the state of her. Mor’s breath came faster, her sex throbbed and glistened all the while her heart thrummed in her chest. 

One hand left their placement on her thighs to reach up, searching. Without speaking, Mor handed you one of those dense round pillows you two had argued about in the shop. She lifted her hips, allowing you to slide the pillow under her hips. 

The lift allowed you full access to her sex without the sheets getting in the way. Without giving her much time to adjust, you added fervor to your already desperate feasting. 

“That’s it,” Mor breathed out as you pushed two fingers inside her. “Yes, pet, yeah fuck me with your hand.” 

Mor began moaning as you pumped your fingers in pace with the hard licks of your tongue. Her hips kept lifting off the bed. You did your best to follow her body wherever it needed to go. 

It didn’t take long for the tell-tale pitch change in her pleasure cries. She was coming, and soon. Maintaining your pace, not changing the angle, the pace, or the pressure you looked up to watch as your beautiful mate came all over your face. 

Her thighs pressed into the sides of your head as her body wracked as she orgasmed. Her hair had gone wild in a golden mess around her head. Her hands gripped the pillows’ edge above her as her spine bowed. 

You kept going until Mor’s body eased down from her high. Even then, you lapped at any of her cum that you could get your tongue on. Drunk from her, you slowly eased from your vigil at her body to rest your weight equally on your hands and knees, letting your head hang heavy for a moment. 

You panted cool air in greedily, not realizing how secondary breathing had become as you feasted. 

The muscles in Mor’s trim abdomen shifted as she came up on one elbow, lifting one hand to caress your face. Unabashedly, you tiled your head to nuzzle into her hand. She guided your face up to meet her gaze. 

Where you expected a stern gaze and a command to let her have her turn at making you come, delicate features of love and adoration made up Mor’s expression. You came to lay with your head on her bare breast. Her skin and yours were sticky with sweat – normally a feeling you couldn’t tolerate for long, but you rejected the idea of adding any barrier between her body and yours. 

“You did so well, darling,” Mor whispered into the top of your head. She gently ran her hands through the length of your hair. “How did I get so lucky, hm? To have such a beautiful, intelligent, sexy, devoted female as my mate.” 

“I’m the lucky one,” you murmured. 

taglist:

@feysandzoyalailover @fanfictioniseverything @humanpersonlasttimeichecked @singhillada @marina468 @acourtofbooksandshadows @kristeristerin @xcastawayherosx

p.s. be prepared for part two to be filthy